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This is a retransmittal of a bounced message from:

"Christine R. Childs" <[log in to unmask]>

I feel the need to reply to the reliability of the blood tests for
antibodies to celiac - antigliadin, antiedomysium, and antireticulin.
Recently I did a lot of research for a paper on the diagnosis of celiac
disease.  One thing that came out over and over again, was that the blood
tests were not reliable enough to replace the biopsy, at best they could
be used in conjunction with the biopsy - reducing the need for further
biopsies.  One important fact is that if the patient is on a gluten free
diet, it is unlikely that any of the tests would be positive.
Antigliadin is prone to false positives and negatives and is the least
sensitive. By far the most sensitive is the anti-endomysium, but it is
strongly effected by diet.  This makes it a great way to monitor diet
compliance - but a negative test would be suspect.  Positive tests are
correlated 97 -100% to celiac disease, and are very reliable. (According
to an article in Clinical and Experimental Immunology vol 95 -more info
if anybody wants it).  What this all means is that if you get a
anti-endomysial antibody test and it is positive - there is a very
good chance that you have celiac disease. If you get the test and it is
negative - then further tests are needed because a negative test is *not*
conclusive.  I am not a doctor - so please talk to a gastroenterologist
about this.  If anyone wants any of the research stuff I have found, let
me know and I will upload it (abstracts only - I don't have entire
articles on disk).

Christine Childs
Senior in Medical Technology, Microbiology
University of Montana
Missoula, Montana