Path Towards Biopsy-Free Diagnosis of Celiac Disease in Pediatric Patients

Laboratory testing for celiac disease in pediatric patients integrates serology, genetic susceptibility and duodenal biopsy examination. The 2023 American College of Gastroenterology guidelines recommend a biopsy-free approach in pediatric patients utilizing tissue transglutaminase antibody titers >10 times upper limit of normal and subsequent endomysial antibody seropositivity as sufficient for diagnosis. The objective of this study is to assess the diagnostic accuracy of biopsy-free approach at our pediatric hospital.

We conducted a retrospective study involving pediatric patients who underwent biopsy for diagnostic confirmation of celiac disease between May 2019 and May 2023. For these patients, the tissue transglutaminase and endomysial antibody test results were retrieved and performance of biopsy-free approach was assessed using the duodenal histology as the gold standard for celiac disease diagnosis.

Tissue transglutaminase antibody titers >10 times upper limit of normal alone demonstrated a positive predictive value of 99% for identifying celiac disease in children. Although endomysial antibody testing is underutilized at our center, its inclusion further improved the predictability to 100 %.

Positive predictive value of tissue transglutaminase antibody titers >10 times upper limit of normal is sufficiently high for celiac disease diagnosis in children and may allow for deferral of duodenal biopsy at diagnosis.