Raising Celiac Podcast

Every episode is accredited by the Boston Children’s Hospital’s Continuing Education Department for 0.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ for physicians, 0.5 contact hours for nurses, 0.5 ACE CE continuing education credits for social workers, and 0.5 CEUs for Registered Dietitians. To claim credits, please listen to the episodes below and complete the brief corresponding survey for each episode linked here.

Guest: Dr. Jason Tye-Din, The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research

In this episode of Raising Celiac, we dive into the evolving science of celiac disease diagnosis with Dr. Jason Tye-Din, a leading gastroenterologist and researcher from Melbourne, Australia. Join us as we explore the role of interleukin-2 (IL-2) as a groundbreaking biomarker, offering a potential path to less invasive and more accurate diagnostic methods. We’ll also hear Jonah’s story—a decade-long journey of living gluten-free without a formal diagnosis—and discuss how innovations like IL-2 testing could transform the diagnostic process for people like him.

Learning Objectives:

1. Explain how interleukin-2 (IL-2) functions as a biomarker and its potential to improve the accuracy and reduce the invasiveness of celiac disease diagnostic methods.
2. Understand how IL-2 might address current gaps in traditional diagnostic pathways for celiac disease.
3. Demonstrate how IL-2 could improve diagnostic outcomes for individuals living with celiac disease symptoms but without formal diagnosis

Guest: Dr. Danny Mallon, Pediatric Gastroenterologist, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital

In this episode of Raising Celiac, we explore Emily’s journey of being diagnosed with both type 1 diabetes and celiac disease. Despite the absence of early digestive symptoms, subtle signs led her family to seek further screening. We’ll discuss the importance of regular autoimmune disease screening in children with type 1 diabetes and how early detection of celiac disease can improve outcomes. Our guest, Dr. Danny Mallon from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, joins us to share insights on managing multiple autoimmune conditions and the potential for new screening methods that could reduce the time to diagnosis and the need for invasive procedures.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand the relationship between type 1 diabetes and increased risk for celiac disease in children.
2. Explore the subtle signs of celiac disease that may appear in patients with type 1 diabetes, even in the absence of traditional digestive symptoms.
3. Gain insights into emerging screening methods that aim to improve the early diagnosis of celiac disease and reduce the need for invasive testing in children with autoimmune conditions.

Guest: Dr. Imad Absah, Pediatric Gastroenterologist, Mayo Clinic

This episode looks at best practices in biopsies for celiac disease. Historically, confirmatory biopsies were obtained from the distal duodenum only, rather than the duodenal bulb. However, researchers have observed that some patients with celiac disease have histopathologic mucosal changes limited to the duodenal bulb only. This subtype, called isolated bulb celiac disease, has been estimated to occur in up to 12% of individuals diagnosed with celiac. Thus, to improve the sensitivity of biopsies in diagnosis, updated pediatric and adult guidelines now recommend obtaining both duodenal bulb and distal duodenum biopsies. But how can delayed diagnosis be prevented in the future? Do endoscopists need to separate the biopsies into separate containers for pathology review? Does isolated bulb celiac disease relate at all to the levels of ttg antibodies in the blood? We’ll discuss this and more on this episode.

Learning Objectives: 

1. Describe the prevalence and characteristics of isolated bulb celiac disease.
2. Explain how a celiac diagnosis can be missed if a biopsy is not taken in the duodenal bulb. 
3. Understand best practices for endoscopy to diagnose celiac disease. 

Guest: Marilyn Geller, Celiac Disease Foundation Chief Executive Officer

This episode features Celiac Disease Foundation CEO Marilyn Geller discussing the importance of advocacy for the celiac disease community.

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe the history of advocacy efforts in the celiac disease community
2. Explain how celiac disease research is funded on a federal level
3. Understand how health providers can play a role in advancing advocacy issues on Capitol Hill