What Does That Result Sheet Say?

Today I went to the Gastroenterologist for my followup appointment (after my Endo and Colonoscopy). He handed me the paper that came back with the results and the exact comment on the result sheet states, "In the proper clinical setting the histological findings in specimen #2 would be consistent with celiac disease, Marsh category 3A."

Here are the stages of intestine damage caused by gluten...

When you have a biopsy to see if your small intestine has been damaged by gluten, the pathologist will give the biopsy a celiac disease Marsh Score. More details about each stage, and actual biopsy samples showing varying extents of injury, appear on the pages that follow.

Stage 0

The mucosa (intestinal lining) is normal, so celiac disease is unlikely. Stage 0 is known as the "pre-infiltrative stage."

Stage 1

The cells on the surface of the intestinal lining (the epithelial cells) are being infiltrated by lymphocytes. (A lymphocyte is a small white blood cell that's involved in the body’s immune response to disease.)

Stage 2

The changes of Stage 1 are present (increased lymphocytes), and the crypts (tube-like depressions in the intestinal lining around the villi) are "hyperplastic" (larger than normal).

Stage 3

The changes of Stage 2 are present (increased lymphocytes and hyperplastic crypts), and the villi are shrinking and flattening (atrophy). There are three subsets of Stage 3: --Partial villous atrophy (Stage 3a) --Subtotal villous atrophy (Stage 3b) --Total villous atrophy (Stage 3c).

Stage 4

The villi are totally atrophied (completely flattened) and the crypts are now shrunken, too.

The above information can be found by clicking here.

Well, with all that luckily my colonoscopy was normal =o)