What is celiac disease?

  Celiac disease has been used in our country for many years. In the late 1980s, foreign textbooks and journals gradually eliminated the term “cervical erosion” and used cervical ectopy instead. The term “cervical erosion” is no longer synonymous with chronic cervicitis and is not an appropriate term mainly based on the following: 1. The red cervical erosion seen under the naked eye is actually covered by columnar epithelium, which is red to the naked eye because the columnar epithelium is a single layer and penetrates the interstitium beneath it and is not a true erosion. Celiac disease is pathologically defined as the absence and loss of squamous epithelium.  2. Colposcopic observation of the erosion surface is often a wide zone of transformation.  3, Pathologically the normal cervix has a small infiltration of inflammatory cells. The cervix itself, as a gateway to protect against infection in the upper genital tract, itself has the presence of some immune cells. The presence of a small number of lymphocytes is a normal physiological manifestation. If there is a large number of lymphocytes in the interstitium of the cervix, then there is still the presence of chronic cervicitis. However, pathologic histology of chronic cervicitis does not necessarily manifest as celiac disease as observed by the naked eye.  The occurrence of cervical erosion is associated with hormonal changes in the body. Cervical erosion is no longer considered abroad as a common pathological change in chronic cervicitis. Therefore, the seventh edition of the 5-year textbook “Obstetrics and Gynecology” now published does not describe cervical erosion as a common pathological type of chronic cervicitis anymore.  Some media are currently promoting celiac disease as a high risk factor for cervical cancer. Does celiac disease increase the incidence of HPV infection and does it increase the incidence of cervical cancer? Does physical therapy for celiac disease protect against the development of cervical cancer? There are not a large number of evidence-based, prospective medical studies to prove this. The increased incidence of cervical cancer in people with celiac disease mentioned in previous articles is actually an increased rate of cervical cancer detection. Although there is no evidence that cervical erosion increases the incidence of cervical cancer, since some early cervical cancers or cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) can also present as erosive manifestations, the main thing to do for those with cervical erosive changes is to have regular cervical cytology screening and screening for HPV infection to exclude cervical cancer and CIN. Theoretically, simple cervical erosion is a Theoretically, simple cervical erosion is a physiological change in which the squamous epithelium of the cervix is replaced by columnar epithelium, rather than a true erosion. Cervical cancer, on the other hand, is an abnormal qualitative change in the squamous epithelium of the cervix, for which human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is the main cause. It should be noted that HPV infection is common and most HPV infections will go away on their own; only a small percentage of HPV infected patients will persist and eventually lead to the development of cervical cancer. It can be seen that cervical erosion and cervical cancer both have different pathogenic factors and pathogenesis, and different pathological changes. Cervical erosion alone, if not combined with HPV infection, does not increase the incidence of cervical cancer and there is no direct relationship between the two. Celiac disease is described as “celiac-like” by the naked eye during gynecological examination. The celiac-like changes found on examination are only a clinical sign, which may be physiological ectopic columnar epithelium, or ectopic columnar epithelium, but may also be pathological changes, such as CIN and mucopurulent cervicitis of the cervix. Before deciding whether to proceed with treatment, it is important to exclude cervical cancer and precancerous lesions, mucopurulent cervicitis (MPC), especially chlamydial infection, and the cervix can also show erosive changes, often with mucopurulent secretions attached to the cervical canal. Pathological celiac disease is treated accordingly. For physiological celiac disease without symptoms, regular screening for cervical cancer can be performed and no special treatment is needed. For a few cases of physiological cervical erosion with columnar epithelium covering the erosion surface, some leucorrhea or bleeding after intercourse may occur.