Effect of Addition of Short Course of Prednisolone to Gluten Free Diet in Naive Celiac Disease Patients

Summary

Withdrawal of gluten, the culprit antigen, is the definite treatment for celiac disease. Weeks to months after gluten withdrawal from the diet before the clinical manifestations, histological features start improving. Many of the adult patients are in the critical phase where even weeks may matter especially those in their adolescence where height growth has limited potential. Suppression of immune system using a short course of steroid might retard the immune mediated destruction of the villi while the effect of gluten withdrawal sets in. Steroids are known to be effective in the management of refractory celiac disease. Therefore, the investigators hypothesized that addition of a short course of steroid to gluten free diet may enhance intestinal mucosal recovery and thus clinical manifestations

Timeline

Start

2009-04

Primary completion

2010-04

Completion

2010-08

Publications

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• Background Marsh MN. Gluten, major histocompatibility complex, and the small intestine. A molecular and immunobiologic approach to the spectrum of gluten sensitivity ('celiac sprue'). Gastroenterology. 1992 Jan;102(1):330-54.
• Shalimar, Das P, Sreenivas V, Datta Gupta S, Panda SK, Makharia GK. Effect of addition of short course of prednisolone to gluten-free diet on mucosal epithelial cell regeneration and apoptosis in celiac disease: a pilot randomized controlled trial. Dig Dis Sci. 2012 Dec;57(12):3116-25. doi: 10.1007/s10620-012-2294-1. Epub 2012 Jun 30.

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