Follow-up of celiac disease patientis mucosal recovery a goal of therapy

Resumen

The main aim of this chapter is to give a comprehensive guide tothe follow-up of patients with CD. The compliance with a strictgluten-free diet (GFD) is the main goal in the management. Patientsmust be trained in the GFD and the benefits obtained from a strictadherence. There are several methods to assess the compliance of thediet and they are summarized in the text: interviews with a dietitianor a doctor, structured surveys, serology, histology and glutendetection in the feces. Furthermore, CD patients must be included intoa periodical follow-up made by a physician (general orgastroenterologist) qualified on the management of CD. Periodicalvisits include: clinical assessment, laboratory test (detection ofnutritional deficiencies and CD serology) and other test in selectedcases (bone densitometry and hyposplenism detection). The evaluation of the duodenal mucosa recovery throughout thefollow-up may be important to identify those patients who require acloser monitoring to detect nutritional deficiencies or complicationsassociated to the persistence of mucosal atrophy.