Identification of a serum transglutaminase threshold value for the noninvasive diagnosis of symptomatic adult celiac disease patients: a retrospective study.

Background: A celiac disease (CD) diagnosis is based on duodenal histology, with the exception of children showing anti-tissue transglutaminase (anti-tTG) serum levels exceeding ten times the cut-off. Our aim was to reproduce this simplified approach in adults, identifying an anti-tTG threshold value useful to diagnose CD without endoscopic procedures.

Methods: A total of 671 adult CD patients were subjected to blood sampling to determine anti-tTG serum levels, as well as to endoscopy with biopsy to perform duodenal histology.