What Is Considered A "high" Result For Ttg?

[cowtowngirl]

I was told on Wednesday that the two tests (EMA & TTG) came back positive, and my doctor told me twice she had never seen results so high on the TTG before.

She showed me; my result was ">200", as in "greater than 200". Is that so high that it's off the charts and they can't even give me a specific number?

Needless to say, I've been scheduled for a biopsy end of May.

[Lisa]

It's great that you may be on the road to wellness. Most labs have their own ranges. To interpret your result, you will need the ranges.

Here is some information on testing:

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[ravenwoodglass]

The test ranges only go so high for some reason. I have heard of others who had results 'off the chart' so to speak. If you are going to have the endo make sure that you keep eating gluten until the endo is done. Also although it is doubtful you will have a negative on the biopsy do remember that there is a chance of a false negative. No matter what the biopsy results you need to go gluten free as soon as all testing you choose to do is finished.

[Tallforagirl]

I was told on Wednesday that the two tests (EMA & TTG) came back positive, and my doctor told me twice she had never seen results so high on the TTG before.

She showed me; my result was ">200", as in "greater than 200". Is that so high that it's off the charts and they can't even give me a specific number?

Needless to say, I've been scheduled for a biopsy end of May.

Mine was given as ">200" too (on the scale from the laboratory that did my test, anything over 20 was positive).

I guess if it's that high, you don't need an exact number to know it's most definitely positive!

[cowtowngirl]

Thank you all.

Yes, once the diagnosis is confirmed (and I'm not expecting otherwise) I will be going gluten-free immediately.

In a way I hate having to continue to eat the way I have been, especially as I'm learning more about this disease and the absolute damage it can do to the body.

Ravenwoodglass; I read your signature and while some of it is foreign to me (the abbreviations and such) I was astonished. Thank you for sharing it.

[Alex J]

My son's came back as >250. His biopsy was pretty strongly positive (almost flat villi in areas), but I do remember that the GI didn't take it as a given that it would be.

He also had hardly any obvious symptoms. He has diabetes and was screened by his endocrinologist because his blood glucose was extremely unpredictable, which is a result of the malabsorbtion. And his growth was bad, but it still is. He had stomach aches, but far fewer than his non celiac sister.

His last TtG came back as 1.9. Woohoo!

[gfb1]

The test ranges only go so high for some reason. I have heard of others who had results 'off the chart' so to speak. If you are going to have the endo make sure that you keep eating gluten until the endo is done. Also although it is doubtful you will have a negative on the biopsy do remember that there is a chance of a false negative. No matter what the biopsy results you need to go gluten free as soon as all testing you choose to do is finished.

another good question. this has to do with the chemistry behind the particular assays. if you were to do a standard curve of all possible concentrations of known TTG (or, anything else for that matter) from zero (0) to 1 million (10^6), the graph formed between the measurement and the actual concentration would NOT be linear. in general, clinical assays are not accepted unless the R-square value of the linear regression is 0.9999. over the last 20 yrs, non-linear assays have been accepted -- but, again, at the 0.9999 level. understanding R-squared value is not as simple as considering a % false positivie or % false negatives.... and beyond the scope of my note...

however, imho (and in my 30 yrs experience doing clinical diagnostics), if a value is above or below the 'accepted' curve of the laboratory... then it is worth asking to repeat the tests. these test SHOULD be done differently (perhaps, depending on the lab, with serial dilutions of the blood sample) if the results are outside the linear portion of the std curve.

again, just my $.02.