MRI Assessment in Newly Diagnosed Coeliac Disease and Following Gluten-free Diet Treatment

One in 100 people suffers from coeliac disease. It affects the lining of the bowel and causes many symptoms such as diarrhoea, wind, stomach pain, constipation and nausea. The only treatment so far is a strict glutenfree diet for life which reverses the bowel damage and often improves symptoms. Up to 25% of patients however may have persistent symptoms despite the gluten free diet but the reasons for this are not clear.

This research aims to help us understand how the gluten free diet works. Investigators will use medical imaging (magnetic resonance imaging or MRI) to measure the volumes of fluid in the small bowel, the size of the large bowel and the time it takes for foods to go through the entire bowel in patients who have just been diagnosed with coeliac disease by their hospital doctor. Investigators will also carry out a breath test and collect a stool sample for basic analysis of the stool bacteria.

Investigators will also collect questionnaires about their feelings and their bowel habits and will try to see how the MRI measurements relate to the patients' symptoms. Investigators will observe how all these measures change after one year of the gluten free diet that doctors will have prescribed as part of the coeliac patients' standard care. As such there is no dietary intervention in this study, investigators will simply study changes in the patients due to their standard treatment. Investigators will also look at a matched group of healthy volunteers to gather a likely reference range of the measurements. This research will be carried out in Nottingham with the help of the specialist coeliac clinics and it will last 3 years. There is a dedicated Coeliac Patient Public Involvement group who have helped plan this study.