Celiac Panel Results Interpretation Help

[sarahbella636]

Hi there-

My 18 month old son recently had the celiac panel done b/c the doctor is concerned about his weight gain. He's 22 lbs, a little anemic, and has a few stinky diapers a day. The pediatrician called over the weekend and said that his test results came back with antibodies to gluten and that she recommends we go to see a ped GI doctor b/c he probably has Celiac. I received the test results in the mail today and was wondering if anyone here could help me interpret them:

Gliadin AB IGA - [H] 13 U/ML ('H' means high?)

Reference Range:

Negative: <11

Equivocal: 11-17

Positive: >17

IGA, Serum- 29 MG/DL

Tissue Transglutam AB IGA- TNP

Reference Range:

Negative: <7

Equivocal: 7-10

Positive: >10

Tissue Transglutam AB IGA - [H] 17 U/ML (I'm assuming that this is the really high result, right?)

Reference Range:

Negative: <5

Equivocal: 5-8

Positive: >8

My 3 year old daughter had the same testing done almost two years ago (also due to slow weight gain and anemia), her results all say 0-0, except for the Tissue Transglutam AB IGA, which reads <3. The pediatrician also wants her to see the GI doctor for further testing. She is a healthy 28 lb kid with some food allergies.

I am so confused with all of this and didn't know if there were any blood work interpreting pros out there. Thanks!

[ravenwoodglass]

It looks to me like those are positive tests. After you are done testing I would get your little one on the diet. It wouldn't hurt to put the other child on the diet also if there is reason to suspect issues.

[Skylark]

That is a positive celiac panel result, with borderline high anti-gliadin antibodies and definitely high anti-tissue transglutaminase (tTG) antibodies. It is unusual to find celiac antibodies at all in a child that young so he's probably celiac. He needs follow-up, and your GI specialist needs to decide whether to do a biopsy or simply diagnose celiac and take him gluten-free.

[sarahbella636]

Thank you so much for your responses! I'm a bit overwhelmed with the thought of avoiding gluten but I am happy that our pediatrician was cautious and tested him for it. I appreciate your help!

[Skylark]

I can understand the overwhelming part. There are plenty of parents with celiac kids around here who can give you lots of support and tips. Just stick around and keep asking questions!

[ravenwoodglass]

Thank you so much for your responses! I'm a bit overwhelmed with the thought of avoiding gluten but I am happy that our pediatrician was cautious and tested him for it. I appreciate your help!

While it is overwhelming you should also be thankful that this was caught to so early. I would give anything to have had my children, especially my son diagnosed when he was little. It would have made such a difference in their lives. We are here to help in any way we can. It might be a good idea to make your whole house gluten free since celiac is strongly genetic and many of the symptoms we get are not always thought to be gluten related, like mood issues and headaches for example.

[sarahbella636]

While it is overwhelming you should also be thankful that this was caught to so early. I would give anything to have had my children, especially my son diagnosed when he was little. It would have made such a difference in their lives. We are here to help in any way we can. It might be a good idea to make your whole house gluten free since celiac is strongly genetic and many of the symptoms we get are not always thought to be gluten related, like mood issues and headaches for example.

After reading more about Celiac I really want our family to be tested, especially my husband, who has had unexplained migraines for basically all of his life. It it does turn out that more of us have it, I definitely want to bring an awareness to our extended family as well.

I am so grateful for finding this site!

[ravenwoodglass]

After reading more about Celiac I really want our family to be tested, especially my husband, who has had unexplained migraines for basically all of his life. It it does turn out that more of us have it, I definitely want to bring an awareness to our extended family as well.

I am so grateful for finding this site!

Just remember that false negatives are not uncommon and do make sure you don't go gluten free until all the testing you plan to have done is finished. Once the testing is done you don't need to wait for the results to start a trial of the diet since a trial is strongly advised even with negative results.

[sarahbella636]

Just remember that false negatives are not uncommon and do make sure you don't go gluten free until all the testing you plan to have done is finished. Once the testing is done you don't need to wait for the results to start a trial of the diet since a trial is strongly advised even with negative results.

Will do. I am going to call the GI doctor next week (moving this weekend, fun!) and talk to them, but in the meantime- is there is a sequence of testing that they will do? More blood work and then a biopsy, or just a biopsy?

[ravenwoodglass]

Will do. I am going to call the GI doctor next week (moving this weekend, fun!) and talk to them, but in the meantime- is there is a sequence of testing that they will do? More blood work and then a biopsy, or just a biopsy?

Bring hard copies of the bloodwork with you or if possible copies of the whole medical history. They may or may not want to redo the tests. They may diagnose based on the positive blood work but most want to biopsy. If you are going to do more testing make sure that you keep eating gluten until the testing is complete.

[sarahbella636]

Bring hard copies of the bloodwork with you or if possible copies of the whole medical history. They may or may not want to redo the tests. They may diagnose based on the positive blood work but most want to biopsy. If you are going to do more testing make sure that you keep eating gluten until the testing is complete.

Thank you so much for your help!