Value of gluten patch test in diagnosis of celiac disease

Celiac disease is an intestinal disorder identified by mucus inflammation, villous atrophy and crypt hyperplasia. This disorder can be controlled by elimination of gluten from daily diet. Patients with celiac disease are at greater risk of gastrointestinal malignancy and non-Hodgkin lymphoma than are the general population. This study tries to present the value of gluten patch test for diagnosis of celiac disease.

In this investigation, the study population was divided into case and control groups. The case group consisted of patients with celiac disease. The control group were patients involved in celiac disease but suffering from other gastrointestinal disorders. Both gluten patch and placebo patch were attached to the skin between the scapulas. The results were read twice: 48 hours and 96 hours after the patch was applied. Patients who showed irritation reactions were withdrawn from this study. The results were analysed by SPSS software, Spearman's test, chi square, and Mann-Whitney tests.

The value obtained from the gluten patch test after 96 hours are as follows: specification at 95%, sensitivity at 8%, positive prediction value at 67%, and negative prediction value at 43%.

It can be concluded that the gluten patch test is not an efficient test for screening of celiac disease, however, it can be useful for diagnosis of celiac disease if employed and studied with clinical symptoms and serologic and biopsy tests. Furthermore, we should doubt our judgment if the result of gluten patch test for the patient with celiac disease is positive.