Treatment of Mild Enteropathy Celiac Disease

The current diagnostic criteria of celiac disease require small-bowel mucosal villous atrophy with crypt hyperplasia (Marsh III). However, the mucosal damage develops gradually and the patients may have clinical symptoms and endomysial antibodies before the development of villous atrophy.

The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the natural history of gluten sensitivity in endomysial antibody positive adults with celiac disease suspicion, who were found to have a only mild enteropathy (Marsh I-II) in the small-bowel mucosa. We hypothesize that these subject are indeed gluten-sensitive, as measured by clinical, serological and histological indicators. If this would be the case, the current diagnostic criteria for celiac disease might need re-evaluation.