Biopsy Results - Coeliac?

[PK1975]

Hi. Can anyone shed any light on my results please? Was sent the biopsy findings but couldn’t get hold of the Dr to tell me what they mean. I had a negative blood test for coeliac disease but as the test is unreliable and due to my symptoms I was referred for a gastroscopy and colonoscopy. After the gastroscopy she did say it looked like I had coeliac disease but we needed to wait for the biopsy results. The letter states:

“On gastroscopy I did ? Villous atrophy and ? coeliac disease. The biopsies showed increase in intraepithelial lymphocytes and advised correlation with serology which has already been done and was unlikely for coeliac disease. I have referred to dietician as I feel they need to look at gluten free diet”.

I wish I’d not seen the letter and just had a call from the Dr!

Thanks :)

Sorry I don’t have any experience of Coeliac but hopefully this will bump for you

Coeliac not a doctor.

My reading of that is that the person who wrote the letter is not sure. There are some indications of coeliac disease but not enough to be certain. So they are hedging their bets and suggesting that you go GF anyway.

I think that letter is saying you do have coeliac disease. It's saying you have villi atrophy from coeliac disease, but your blood test (serum) was negative. The blood test has a high failure rate.

Are the question marks in the letter? If so, they're showing what the original biopsy was supposed to answer - is there villous atrophy or other indicators of coeliac disease.

They don't mention villous atrophy in the findings, but do mention raised IEL count, which a quick Google indicates is now seen as an early indicator of coeliac damage even with retained normal villous structure.

So looks like they think there are some signs of coeliac (though maybe not the classic villi damage) so despite negative bloods they're recommending gluten-free diet.

That's how I read it!

Thanks everyone. Was really confused when I first read the letter and couldn’t get hold of anyone to tell me. Have googled a lot this weekend!
Yes, there’s question marks in the letter.
Today has been my first gluten free day

Welcome to the world of not feeling knackered all the time, with any luck, OP!

Thank you - that sounds great!