Blood Tests And Endoscopy

[Mummyto3]

Why, when my daughter has had a positive blood test for celiac disease, do the drs want a biopsy? And when taking the biopsy do they have a look at her gut or just take what they need?

[Mattie-Jack]

  On 6/8/2011 at 5:12 PM, Mummyto3 said:

Why, when my daughter has had a positive blood test for celiac disease, do the drs want a biopsy? And when taking the biopsy do they have a look at her gut or just take what they need?

Most physicians seem to want to have several pieces of the puzzle to get a true "Celiac" diagnosis. My experience has been that the bloodwork is the typically the first phase and then the endoscopy/biopsy. They look and take several biopsies of the small intestine at the same time. Recovery is typically quick and easy and the doctor will give you a visual report at the time of the biopsy. Labs take several days to confirm.

[Darn210]

My daughter's doc said that it was because the original blood test was not very reliable and thus the original standard was to do both the blood test and endoscopy. Now, the blood test is much better . . . at least if it's positive. He thinks it will be a matter of time (however, in medical terms, that means years of gathering data) before a positive blood test will be enough for a diagnosis. There are still doctors out there though that believe you must have both a positive blood test and positive biopsy before they will diagnose Celiac. There are a rare few that will diagnose based on a positive response to the diet.