<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
 
On Feb 28, 1996 13:15:31, [log in to unmask] wrote:
 
>First, can damaged/flattened villi return to a normal healthy state
>if a GF diet is strictly followed?
 
 
Dr. Murray was asked in Baltimore if "complete healing" was supposed to
occur. The answer was yes.
 
There's much more to the "celiac damage" than just villi, however: depth of
crypts, abnormal cell types, etc.
 
 I'm about to follow-up on the report of my 2 year follow-up biopsy --I
felt so good on first learning that the doctor had looked closely enough to
say there was still some celiac damage because 1) he did care perhaps
because I'd never had an antibody test at the time of diagnosis 2) because
there were no ulcers, cancer, etc. and 3) because I'd assumed the matching
antibody test would be positive. The antibody tests, however,  (all 4),
were  negative this time. (I'd had one antibody panel inbetween.)
 
The cryptic pathology report said "consistent with treated celiac disease".
 
 
In Marsh's book, he defines 5 types of intestinal lesion: Type 4 is called
"irreversible hypoplastic atrophic". "Flat destructive" is Type 3. The
types are supposed to be sequential. Remember too, that the intestines
won't be damaged uniformly throughout.
 
So, a good question.
 
                           Kemp Randolph
                           Long Island
                           [log in to unmask]