A quantitative assessment of jejunal villous damage in coeliac disease, using the mucosal index.

A semi-automatic method has been used to study the morphology of sections of the jejunal mucosa from adults with coeliac disease and from normal controls. Mucosal morphology was quantified in each patient by using the Mucosal Index (surface mucosal length/muscularis mucosal length), which numerically expressed the degree of villous flattening present in patients with coeliac disease.