DIAGNOSTIC ACCURACY OF SERUM IGA ANTI-TISSUE TRANSGLUTAMINASE ANTIBODY IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF CELIAC DISEASE

ABSTRACT Objective: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of serum IgA anti-tissue transglutaminase antibody in the diagnosis of celiac disease taking histopathology as gold standard. Recent guidelines recommend that if anti-tTG IgA is elevated more than 10 times then HLADQ2 and DQ8 are performed and if any one of them is positive it is confirmatory of celiac disease. [...]a negative test is likely in a patient with marginal pathology (i.e., Marsh I lesion) and does not essentially rule out milder forms of celiac disease. Ninety five (95) children aged between 2 months to 14 years presenting with persistent diarrhea, abdominal pain, vomiting, abdominal distension, constipation, failure to thrive (FTT), idiopathic short stature, unexplained anaemia or iron deficient anaemia unresponsive to treatment and lassitude/weakness were included in the study after taking written informed consent from parents or legal guardian of the patient. CONCLUSION IgA anti-tissue transglutaminase antibody (>25 U/ml) was found to be 91.18% sensitive, 29.63% specific and 73.68% accurate in the diagnosis of celiac disease taking histopathology as gold standard with positive and negative predictive values of 76.54% and 57.14% respectively.