Patient Power®
Get Email Alerts!
Health Topics
Celiac Disease (CD) Health Center
Health Center Home Audio Programs Videos
Search by Keyword:
Search by Health Topic:
View all Health Topics >

Malabsorption

Program: The Often Overlooked GI problem: Celiac Disease
<< Previous   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   Next >>

Andrew Schorr:

So I know the gold standard eventually is that they see somebody like you and you do endoscopy and look exactly at the tissue in the stomach, I guess. Or is it the stomach or other parts of the intestine?

Dr. Saunders:

It's generally the small intestine. In fact celiac disease is unique in that it is the only malabsorptive condition well, it's the most common malabsorptive condition that we see in the United States. And it typically involves the duodenum, which is the first part of the small intestine and then extends a variable amount downstream. So you can easily reach the duodenum with a standard upper endoscopy.

Andrew Schorr:

And when you say malabsorption, then, is like they looked at that with my child because she was becoming anemic and seemed not to be absorbing iron from food. So would anemia be a possible sign of celiac disease? And what would be others?

Dr. Saunders:

Sure, anemia, particularly iron deficiency because iron is best absorbed in the duodenum. So if you have any patient with iron deficiency anemia out of reproductive age. It's very common for reproductive females to have iron deficiency, but certainly in a child iron deficiency would be very abnormal, and if there's no signs or symptoms of ongoing bleeding somewhere then certainly looking for a malabsorptive condition is important.

Andrew Schorr:

Okay. And what others sorts of things would you not be absorbing?

Dr. Saunders:

Well, certainly your nutrients. If enough of your small intestine is involved you may malabsorb proteins and fats and lose weight. So weight loss would be one. Vitamin deficiencies, vitamin D, calcium, so osteoporosis is another important sign of celiac disease.

<< Previous   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   Next >>