My Kids' Lab Reports

[ANDOBEAR]

I just picked up the lab reports for my two sons. I have no idea what to make of them. Any help would be appreciated!

My oldest son..... 7years old

IgA 57 range is 33-258 mg/dL

Tissue Trans. 3.0 range is 0.0-30.0 U

The baby..... 17 mos.

IgA 16 (which was flagged as being low) range is 22-178 mg/dL

Tissue Trans. 2.6 range is 0.0-30.0 U

I'm still waiting on my blood test but my biopsy was suggestive of celiac due to increased intraepithelial lymphocytes at the villous tip and underlying lymphoid follicle....whatever that means...lol.

[ShayFL]

What are the ranges?

[ANDOBEAR]

What are the ranges?

I guess that would help huh?.........I'll edit

[ShayFL]

I think it would have been very helpful if they had done full celiac panels. Also compounding the problem is that each lab has a different range. My lab would put your boys "boarderline". 3 U

They should have also done EMA, tTG IgG, Antigliadin IgA and Antigliadin IgG.

If it were me, I would wait for all of my results to come back. Your boys are young and you can control what they eat. So if you come back positive with your positive biopsy, you can safely try ALL of you on a gluten-free diet and see if the diet speaks for itself. Not to mention it is soooo much easier to have a 100% gluten-free house. So much.

Also, you can opt to pay for an Enterolab genetic test for all of you. Cheek swabs, so no blood draws for your little guys.

[ANDOBEAR]

I think it would have been very helpful if they had done full celiac panels. Also compounding the problem is that each lab has a different range. My lab would put your boys "boarderline". 3 U

They should have also done EMA, tTG IgG, Antigliadin IgA and Antigliadin IgG.

If it were me, I would wait for all of my results to come back. Your boys are young and you can control what they eat. So if you come back positive with your positive biopsy, you can safely try ALL of you on a gluten-free diet and see if the diet speaks for itself. Not to mention it is soooo much easier to have a 100% gluten-free house. So much.

Also, you can opt to pay for an Enterolab genetic test for all of you. Cheek swabs, so no blood draws for your little guys.

Thanks for the information. I should be getting my lab results from prometheus soon... This will include the whole pannel including genetics. I would be surprised if they aren't positive since my biopsy seems to be positive and I have several symptoms including extreme iron and vitamin defficiencies. So if you think 3.0 U is borderline what would a positive number be? I would just liek to knoe for general refference. Thanks.

[ShayFL]

Im just going by my lab (Lab Corp). 4-10 is weak positive and anything above 10 is strong positive.

I only got a (1) on everything. And my IgA is low normal.

But I have 2 genes for gluten sensitivity, one of which is DQ3 and DQ1. DQ1 is implicated in nero symptoms without any other obvious cause. This is me, so I am gluten-free and have already made neurological progress. But I have to be patient for complete healing.

I didnt have a biopsy as I am high risk for perforations.

[ANDOBEAR]

Ok thanks a bunch!

[nora-n]

andobear, the first testyou listed, the IgA test, is just the total IgA which theu use to check if you are making enough IgA for the tttest to be meaningful. Both of them seem lowish? They rally should have done all the tests.

In those with low IgA, they always run the IgG version of the same test, I have no idea why this was not rutinely done in the youngest one.

and, I read here thateven lowish IgA means something, that the IgG version should have been done to be meaningful.

Some patients only have one (any one) of all the tests showing positive.

nora

[lizard00]

I just wanted to add that testing in children is often inaccurate. So, if your lab work comes back positive, try the diet on the children and see how they do. If you have Celiac, there's a good chance at least one of them will have it, but it's not carved in stone that they will.

I had negative bloodwork, but I have Celiac. My doctor ran the gene panel and used that in conjunction with my positive dietary response for his diagnosis. So, just because their tests came back negative doesn't necessarily mean that you can rule out Celiac. And labs all have different ranges and some specialize in Celiac, like Prometheus. The good thing about Prometheus is that they automatically run the gene, so you pretty much can get your info in one shot. I wish more doctors would use them.

[lizard00]

In those with low IgA, they always run the IgG version of the same test, I have no idea why this was not rutinely done in the youngest one.

nora

that is not routine in the US. It is recommended by Celiac experts, but at Quest labs, it is not routine. (had to edit that...can only speak for the lab my doc used)

[ANDOBEAR]

Yeah, I wish the kids doctor would have ordered the test through Prometheus. I am anxious for my results. I had the blood drawn on the 3rd but as I understand it the blood has to get to cali (from Boston), be processed in , and then tested so it can take some time. Is the biopsy I had enough to serve as a diagnosis if if the blood is negative? What are the chances of that? I suppose if my tests are positve for the celiac genes I will ask to have the kids tested for the gene too... since these tests the dr. ran don't seem very definative for a few different reasons.

[ANDOBEAR]

that is not routine in the US. It is recommended by Celiac experts, but at Quest labs, it is not routine. (had to edit that...can only speak for the lab my doc used)

The boys labs were done at the Mayo clinic.

[lizard00]

Is the biopsy I had enough to serve as a diagnosis if if the blood is negative? What are the chances of that?

It should be enough, I guess that falls into your doctor's opinion. That was my doctor's first suggestion, to progress to the biopsy since my blood work was inconclusive. The chances of having Celiac with negative bloodwork... it's not uncommon. I am definitely not alone with my diagnosis, and there are many others on here who had negative bloodwork, but positive biopsies. Your doctor *should* take your whole panel into account when reading it, such as if you are IgA deficient, as it seems one of your children is. I am IgA deficient, and I was gluten free at the time of testing. So between the two, there was pretty much no chance of the bloodwork picking up anything. Maybe if they had run the IgG test I would've been diagnosed sooner, but they didn't.

[Darn210]

Thanks for the information. I should be getting my lab results from prometheus soon... This will include the whole pannel including genetics. I would be surprised if they aren't positive since my biopsy seems to be positive and I have several symptoms including extreme iron and vitamin defficiencies. So if you think 3.0 U is borderline what would a positive number be? I would just liek to knoe for general refference. Thanks.

Different labs have different protocols/procedures/calibrations and therefore different ranges. It's not because one lab will diagnose you with celiac at 10 (arbitrary number) and another won't do it until you reach 20. My daughter was tested at one lab and my son at a different . . . the results were presented totally different. You can't use one lab's reading with a different lab's ranges. They're a matched set.

Are either of your children showing any symptoms (GI, behavioral, growth, etc)? I'm assuming you had them screened since you are heading towards a positive diagnosis yourself.

Just a couple of comments:

Blood testing can be inconclusive (especially in kids). If there is some reason that you suspect Celiac, then go for a trial diet.

Even if everything is OK now, you should still have them screened once in a while (my doc said every three or five years or sooner if symptoms appear).

If everything works out OK for them. It's still OK to take your house gluten free if it makes it easier for you. Our house is probably 90%. There are only packaged gluten items in the house (bread, buns, cereal, and a couple of snacks for my son and husband). All cooking is gluten free. There is NO wheat flour (or wheat flour mixes) in the house.

Your youngest son appears IgA deficient . . . which is not uncommon . . . this just means his testing based on IgA is inconclusive and should be based on IgG tests.

[nora-n]

Here they automatically run the IgG version of the test if the IgA is low. One cannotorder the IgG version here, they only run it if the total IgA is low...that is a drawback as some people are only positive on the IgG version I think. Yes, this is Europe.

I just read here in this folder a few days ago that the Mayo Clinic is lousy with celiac testing. They even ran a HLA class 1 test for celiac when the right test is HLA class 2...just awful.

yesterday I read this one : Open Original Shared Link

and Open Original Shared Link

and it was possible to read the full article, at least for me. Seems like there is still a lot to be desired in celiac testing.

nora