<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> Joanne E Hameister wrote: >At the Canadian Celiac Conference in Montreal in 1996, it was noted that >8-15% of biopsies might (I emphasize 'might') produce false negative >results. According to my doctor, this lack of sensitivity is a sampling >error, ex. the doctor not taking a sufficient number of samples and/or >not sampling in the appropriate area of the jejunum. You also have to include a varied interpretation of the biopsy slides. As you can see below there is a progression in how the mucosa becomes damaged (which is actually reversed below). It is my understanding that many pathologists in the US have a rather high standard before they make a diagnosis. A high standard being only the first of the five criteria are used to make a diagnosis. Taken from THE SPRUE-NIK PRESS, September 1995 The University of Maryland School of Medicine sponsored a conference on July 14-15, 1995 entitled "Celiac Disease: The Dark Side of the Gastrointestinal Planet". [snipped...] .......................................................... : Pathology of Celiac Disease : : --------------------------- : : by Salvatore Auricchio, MD summarized by Jim Lyles : :........................................................: Dr. Auricchio is Professor and Chairman of Pediatrics at the University Frederico II in Naples, Italy. CD manifests itself in the small intestine. A distinct pattern of abnormalities has been observed [comments in braces have been added by Jim Lyles]: * villous atrophy [partial or complete flattening of the finger-like projections in the small intestine] * hyperplasia of the crypts of Lieberkuhn [the crypts under the villi become highly elongated when compared with normal crypts] * increased plasma cell and lymphocyte infiltration of the lamina propria [more lymphocytes under the epithelial or outer layer of the villi. Lymphocytes are the cells that fight off viruses, etc.] * increased intraepithelial lymphocytes [more lymphocytes within the epithelial cells. The epithelial cells form the outer layer of the intestine and allow nutrients to pass through from the intestine into the bloodstream] * abnormalities in the epithelial cells which become flattened, cuboidal, and pseudo- stratified [layered].