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Was This A Ttg Or Ema Result?

KBart

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KBart Apprentice
KBart
Posted

My daughter has been having constant stomach pain for a over a month. She had an appointment with the GI doctor and she ran a full panel of tests. Everything came back normal except a test which was labeled as Tissue transglutaminase AB IGA. But then in the body of the test so to speak it said Endomysial AB IGA. The result was 47 and the range was under 20 normal, 20-30 weak positive and above 30 positive. Was this the TTG or EMA?

She also had a IGA serum value of 55 with a normal range of 15-241.

Can anyone help me understand this? I'm waiting on a call from her doctor but just trying to do a little research in the meantime. She is 4.5 years old.

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Gemini Experienced
Gemini
Posted

That sounds like the tTg IgA antibody test, which looks for intestinal damage.  The EMA is usually reported back as a titer or just a positive or negative.  Either way, the positive result may be the answer to your daughter's stomach pain.  It would have been helpful if the doctor had done a full panel but I would wait to hear what he/she has to say.

 

The EMA is very specific to Celiac and if that was the test they ran and it was positive, your daughter most likely has Celiac Disease.  Is there a family history?

RMJ Mentor
RMJ
Posted

The TTG and EMA tests look for the same autoantibodies, but in different ways. Those results look like a TTG test (done in a test tube). The EMA test is evaluated under a microscope and results are in the format 1:##.

nvsmom Community Regular
nvsmom
Posted

Yep. A positive EMA IgA would likely say 1:80 (this is sometimes a negative for some labs), 1:160, or 1:320.

 

Your little one likely has celiac disease.  The tTG IgA is about 95% specific to celiac disease.  The 5% of false posotives are caused by colitis, crohn's, diabetes, thyroiditis, chronic liver disease, or a very serious infection.  If she is having GI issues, and has a positive tTG IgA, that is most likely celiac disease.  She is quite positive too, which makes it even more liley that it is celiac disease.

 

If you want to run more tests, ask for the EMA IgA, and the deaminated gliadin peptides tests (DGP IgA and DGP IgG) which is the best test for detecting celiac disease in children.  The ttG tests have a higher false negative rate in children so it is lucky her positive was caught. 

 

There is also the endoscopic biopsy.  If you have this doen ensure they take at least 6 samples.

 

You should probably get yourselves and other chil;dren checked, and rechecked every 2 years, because celiac disease is a genetic disease so your family is at high risk of developing it.

 

Best wishes.

KBart Apprentice
KBart
Posted
  • Author

That sounds like the tTg IgA antibody test, which looks for intestinal damage. The EMA is usually reported back as a titer or just a positive or negative. Either way, the positive result may be the answer to your daughter's stomach pain. It would have been helpful if the doctor had done a full panel but I would wait to hear what he/she has to say.

The EMA is very specific to Celiac and if that was the test they ran and it was positive, your daughter most likely has Celiac Disease. Is there a family history?

No known family history.

Thank you all for your replies. I'll hopefully hear from the doctor soon.

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