[Structure of small intestinal mucosa in children with celiac disease in different stages of the disease].

The structure of jejunal mucosa in 100 children with celiac disease (CD) was studied morphometrically by means of light and electron microscopy. Variable in nature and intensity structural changes observed during the period of CD clinical manifestations and in remission depend mainly upon the adequacy of agladinic diet and its duration: Not only the degree of the villi atrophy, but differences in the mucosa thickness observed in a one-third of the patients should be taken into consideration. The restoration of the jejunal mucosa in children with celiac disease proceeds rather slowly and with different speeds this being connected with both possible noncompliance of the strict agliadin diet and different susceptibility to gliadin. Complete restoration of the mucosa occurred in few patients.