In nine of these cases it was the added development of gastrointestional symptoms that finally led to small bowel biopsy and the diagnosis of coeliac disease.

I don't even know now who it was, but he insisted on a bowel biopsy and that's when they diagnosed the celiac disease.

We have recently assessed the frequency of the coeliac like intestinal antibody pattern, a candidate marker of latent coeliac disease, in patients referred for diagnostic small bowel biopsy.

If stool examination is negative and microsporidiosis is suspected, a small bowel biopsy should be performed.

A positive test should be followed by a small bowel biopsy to confirm coeliac disease.

Small bowel biopsy and abdominal computed tomography are essential but often unhelpful in early diagnosis.

The need for routine small bowel biopsy might be questioned but during this study two to three cases of coeliac disease were diagnosed each year among the patients investigated for iron deficiency anaemia.