Iron-deficiency anemia due to silent celiac sprue

Rick T. Waldo, MD

From Dallas Diagnostic Association, Dallas, Texas.

Corresponding author: Rick T. Waldo, MD, Dallas Diagnostic Association, 7777 Forest Lane, Suite C-300, Dallas, Texas 75230 (e-mail: w11648r@aol.com).

Celiac sprue, a gluten-induced enteropathy, was once considered primarily an immunologic disease of infants and children. Gluten is a protein found in grains, primarily wheat and barley. The ingestion of gliadin, a component of gluten, causes gastrointestinal symptoms including malabsorption and multiple nutritional deficiencies. Our understanding of this disorder has become more refined in recent years, as the case studies demonstrate. (BUMC Proceedings 2002;15:16-17)