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Where to go from here? Mixed results

alice14
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alice14 Newbie
alice14
Posted

Hi. My 4 year old son had a positive DGA (14, ref <7) and negative TTG (0.4, ref <7) a couple of months ago. Last week, he had an endoscopy with biopsies, which showed no sign of celiac disease. The gastroenterologist did additional blood tests during the scope but did not repeat the celiac panel, nor check relevant genetic markers. The gastro confidently declared him negative for celiac and discharged us back to our local doctor. My son’s only potential symptoms are tummy aches, iron deficiency and constipation. We actually went to the gastro for a different reason and were surprised when his DGA was elevated. Where would you go from here? After reading cases of people with positive DGA/negative everything else who went on to be diagnosed, I’m worried that it may just be early stages of the disease and there’s no follow up planned.

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trents Grand Master
trents
Posted

This may be helpful: https://celiac.org/about-celiac-disease/screening-and-diagnosis/screening/

Do you know what your son's total IGA was and the reference used?

One option would be to start him on a gluten free diet and see if his symptoms improve.

I think your take on the situation is probably correct. You may have caught it early. Judging from the input on this forum from a number of participants whose young children had some positive antibody tests but negative biopsies I would say this is not an uncommon pattern in children.

alice14 Newbie
alice14
Posted
  • Author
4 minutes ago, trents said:

This may be helpful: https://celiac.org/about-celiac-disease/screening-and-diagnosis/screening/

Do you know what your son's total IGA was and the reference used?

One option would be to start him on a gluten free diet and see if his symptoms improve.

I think your take on the situation is probably correct. You may have caught it early. Judging from the input on this forum from a number of participants whose young children had some positive antibody tests but negative biopsies I would say this is not an uncommon pattern in children.

Thanks for replying! I’ll give that link a read now. My son’s total IgA was normal - 1.39, ref 0.22-1.60

Scott Adams Grand Master
Scott Adams
Posted

This article may also be helpful to teach you more about the standard blood testing procedure:

 

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