Negative Biopsy Results

[resoree]

Hi. I had a positive blood test result more then six months ago and started my gluten free diet then. I still had some stomach problems every now and then but managed to gain some weight, but I also lost some recently. Because I have an HMO, it took more more then six months to get my upper endoscopy and sigmoidoscopy done. (i read others experiences and no one had a painful endoscopy experience like me. I vomited and my whole esophagus hurt for almost a week!) Anyways the results from the biopsy came out negative. Do you think the results were negative because i was on a gluten free diet for so long (i did cheat every now and then)? What do they do with the biopsies at the lab? Since then (four days ago) i stopped my gluten free diet and so far its been good. I just wondered if it was possible to have a positive blood test and a negative biospy.

Leslie

[lovegrov]

Postive blood test with a negative biopsy is not at all unusual even among people who keep eating gluten. The person taking the biopsy samples might miss the damaged areas or the lab might not be experienced reading celiac slides. In addition, you should not have gone gluten-free before the biopsy because, yes, six months is indeed enough time for the damage to heal. The final question is what criteria does your lab and doctor use to establish celiac? Some won't call it celiac unles your villi are completely flattened (yours wouldn't be because you went mostly gluten-free) but more and more experts are saying it should be called celiac with MUCH less damage.

Depending on which blood tests you had, these rarely give false positives. What blood tests were positive? What symptoms were you having? Did they resolve on the gluten-free diet? Did you feel better on the diet? These are some other questions you have to ask yourself.

richard