The authors assessed in 118 patients simultaneously antibodies against tissue transglutaminase - tTGA (Mediphan Diagnostica, Germany) and endomysial antibodies - EMA (The Binding Site, Birmingham, Great Britain). In 58 patients a bioptic examination of the mucosa of the small bowel was made. In 26 cases a normal morphological finding was obtained and tTGA and EMA were positive in two patients. In 32 patients villous atrophy was found. tTGA was elevated in 30 patients and EMA in 31. The sensitivity of the EMA examination is 96.8% and the tTGA examination in 93.7%. The specificity of the two examinations is 92.3%. In a group of 57 samples where the presence of EMA was found tTGA was negative 53x. A correlation was found between the results of tTGA and EMA estimations. The use of the ELISA method seems more suitable for p rocessing of a larger number of samples, it is less laborious and does not depend on subjective evaluation.

        Key words: coeliac disease, antibodies against tissue transglutaminase, endomysial antibodies