Final Pathologic Diagnosis

[Cipi411]

My duodenum biopsy reads: "No signficant epithelial inflammation. Does not suggest celiac sprue." What does that mean?

[Christopher R Watters, MD]

This is equivalent to saying that its a beautiful day but can't rule out hurricaine just over the horizon! The pathologist is dictating a normal result. It states that there are no abnormal findings.

[Cipi411]

Thank you. I like the good. The bad causes me anxiety... I hope it really is my stress manifesting itself physically and it goes away as soon as I figure out how to relax!

[Cipi411]

No relatives with celiac. Doc went in looking for ulcer or gastritis primarily. Had already checked for H. Pylori and that was negative.
I was diagnosed with GERD back in January after complaining about chest pain for a while. The acid reflux feels like it's here to stay since a 14-day treatment of Prilosec isn't doing a thing.
The primary reason for the EGD was the fact that I've had pain in my upper left qudrant (directly below my rib cage) since February. It comes and it goes and is sometimes sharp. It goes away and I don't feel it for days sometimes. My doc says I have a highly acidic stomach and that my stress and anxiety are causing me this pain... All kinds of blood tests done too and nothing. At least with all the check ups they found gall stones, so I had my gallbladder removed a month ago. Pain on left side has stuck around after surgery, so we now know it was unrelated to stones.
I'm going to post info and question on expert forum because I think my G.I doc is giving up. I'm 29 and he thinks I'm to young to be stressing.
The question from this topic came after I received the pathologist's results after EGD.
Thank you both for your responses!!

[CalGal]

Cipi, even if the pathology report says 'no significant epithelial inflammation,' my question to your doctor and the pathologist would be two-fold: was villi flattening seen and what was the IEL count (that's intraepithelial lymphocyte count). Far, far too often a biopsy can be done and come up negative, but an individual can go on - years down the line - to finally be diagnosed with celiac. And that's darned sad. If there's ANY chance at all that it could be celiac, you ca't discard that possibility.

Does anyone in your family, or do any relatives have celiac? What kinds of symptoms are you experiencing? On the off-chance, have you had your genes (alleles) checked? If you carry the genes for gluten sensitivity or celiac disease you could STILL have a problem even though at this time you may not show any evidence in the small intestine.

[TheLightSeeker]

Hey Cipi411.

Welcome to the forum.
It 's probably good and bad news.
It seems that you do not have Celiac Disease, as there's no significant inflammation on the epithelial wall of your duodenum (part of your small intestine). Bad news is that the hunt for a dx must continue.
Hopefully you will be diagnosed with something treatable. Celiac is not.
Wish you well.
Niko