The Value of Ensari's Proposal in Evaluating the Mucosal Pathology of Childhood Celiac Disease: Old Classification versus New Version.

OBJECTIVE Small intestinal biopsy remains the gold standard in diagnosing celiac disease (CD); however, the wide spectrum of histopathological states and differential diagnosis of CD is still a diagnostic problem for pathologists. Recently, Ensari reviewed the literature and proposed an update of the histopathological diagnosis and classification for CD. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this study, the histopathological materials of 54 children in whom CD was diagnosed at our hospital were reviewed to compare the previous Marsh and Modified Marsh-Oberhuber classifications with this new proposal. RESULTS In this study, we show that the Ensari classification is as accurate as the Marsh and Modified Marsh classifications in describing the consecutive states of mucosal damage seen in CD. CONCLUSIONS Ensari's classification is simple, practical and facilitative in diagnosing and subtyping of mucosal pathology of CD.