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BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS: Published follow-up data on small-intestinal recovery in patients with celiac disease are scarce and contradictory. This is especially the case for adult patients, who often show incomplete histological recovery after starting a gluten-free diet (GFD). We conducted a 2-year prospective study to evaluate the effectiveness of a GFD in improving the endoscopic and histological duodenal findings in adults with celiac disease. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We studied 42 consecutive adults with newly diagnosed celiac disease (13 men, 29 women; mean age 32.7 years, range 15 - 72 years). All the patients underwent esophagogastroduodenoscopy and small-bowel biopsy. We devised our own grading system for the endoscopic appearance of the duodenum, which ranged from "normal" appearance to "mild", "moderate", or "severe" alterations. Small-bowel biopsies were obtained from the second part of the duodenum (and from the duodenal bulb when it had a micronodular appearance). The histopathological appearances were described according to modified Marsh criteria. RESULTS: A normal endoscopic appearance in the duodenum was found in 5/42 patients (11.9 %) at entry and in 32/42 patients (76.2 %) after 2 years on a GFD. Subdividing the patients according to age, patients aged from 15 years to 60 years showed significant improvement within 12 months ( P 30 years) showed histological improvement but this was not statistically significant, even after 24 months on a GFD. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows for the first time that endoscopic recovery is faster than histological recovery in adults with celiac disease who go on a GFD. Moreover, older patients showed incomplete endoscopic and histological recovery even 24 months after starting a GFD. We therefore advise, as a minimum recommendation, that follow-up biopsies should be taken 1 - 2 years after starting a GFD in adults with celiac disease.
Tursi et al. (2006) studied this question.