Do we need to take duodenal biopsy routinely to pick up coeliac disease?

Aims: to evaluate the frequency of duodenal villous atrophy and coeliac disease (CD) on a large cohort of patients. Patients and methods: duodenal biopsy was taken from 1290 consecutive patients between Jan.2.-Dec.31, 2003. The median age of patients was 52 years (range 14–92ys), the male-female ratio was 1:2.18. The clinical suspicion of CD (or other gastrointestinal disorders featuring villous atrophy presenting with malabsoption syndrome) was raised in case of iron deficiency, anemia, diarrhoea, typical laboratory alterations or the combination of these symptomps. The endoscopic suspicion of diseases with vil…