Which Blood Tests Should I Make Sure We Have?

[celiac-mommy]

My son turns the magical '2' today and it's time for his celiac panel. What should I make sure we have marked on our lab slip--there are so many options....

[jerseyangel]

Here's the complete Celiac Panel--

Anti-Gliadin (AGA) IgA

Anti-Gliadin (AGA) IgG

Anti-Endomysial (EMA) IgA

Anti-Tissue Transglutaminase (tTG) IgA

Total Serum IgA

[happygirl]

A reference, if needed:

"Serologic panel

Of the commercially available serologic tests that aid in the diagnosis of celiac disease, no one test is ideal. Using multiple serologies increases the diagnostic yield. Therefore, in the United States, screening in patients with possible celiac disease should consist of a panel of the following serologic tests:

Anti-gliadin antibodies (AGA) both IgA and IgG

Anti-endomysial antibodies (EMA) - IgA

Anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies (tTG) - IgA

Total IgA level.

The reason for the use of the panel to detect celiac disease is several fold. They include selective IgA deficiency (SIgA deficiency), lack of concordance of endomysial antibody and tTG, and the occurrence of seronegative celiac disease"

The above is taken from Open Original Shared Link (Dr. Peter Green from Columbia University's Celiac Disease Center.)

It also might be worth it to do the testing for the Celiac genes, HLA DQ2 and HLA DQ8, since that would make your life a lot easier in the long run (if negative for the genes, he has a much, much decreased chance of Celiac, as the vast majority of Celiacs have one of the genes....95-98% or so) Prometheus Labs can do it.

[celiac-mommy]

Thank you all, I'm really stressing now on how they're actually going to get the blood from him, I had to hold him down on his 1st b-day with a temp of 105 after having a seizure while they inserted a urinary catheter to test for infections--that was horrible, and he's a lot stronger now... think good thoughts!!