Postive Blood Test

[Nicholasmommy]

my 19 month old tested positive for celiac by blood. I am just wondering how accurate that is? How likely is it the biopsy will come out positive too?

[Tallforagirl]

my 19 month old tested positive for celiac by blood. I am just wondering how accurate that is? How likely is it the biopsy will come out positive too?

Depends which blood test. The most specific for celiac disease is the anti endomysial antibodies (EMA) test, though often the tTG (anti-tissue transglutaminase) is done instead of EMA as it's more sensitive. tTG is still very specific.

More info can be found here: https://www.celiac.com/articles/57/1/Interp...ults/Page1.html

There can be problems with biopsies if the damage is patchy and they happen to look at an undamaged section, or place the sample incorrectly on the slide, or it is interpreted wrongly.

If the biopsy is negative, definitely don't assume it's not celiac disease. I would get a second opinion on the biopsies, and if still negative you can always trial gluten-free diet to see if it helps. The doctor may be willing to diagnose based on positive blood test and dietary response alone.

In my opinion, it's worth doing the endoscopy just to check everything out and make sure there's nothing else going on that may (also) need treatment.