Celiac Clinic

The Poursina Hakim Celiac Clinic

About us:

Celiac Clinic is one of Soroush Salamat Medical Company clinics’ which work together with Iranian celiac association in order to diagnose, treat and follow up patients with Celiac disease.

Celiac disease (a severe, even fatal chronic systemic allergic reaction to wheat gluten, rye and barely) known as the “disease with a thousand faces”,   can manifest in many different ways in different people, Despite the high prevalence (about 1%) of this disease, due to affecting many organs and systems of the body and its notorious popularity (disease with a thousand faces), sometimes can’t be diagnosed or treated appropriately. Irreversible complications of the disease, including cancers, cirrhosis and liver failure, osteoporosis and bone fractures, malnutrition, hormonal and growth defects, infertility, blindness, alopecia areata and hair loss, and sometimes death, makes it vital to diagnose the disease early.

What is warring is that celiac disease diagnosed in less than 10% of the cases and a small proportion of diagnosed patients (10%) receive proper care and follow gluten-free diet. And what is important is that timely diagnosis will improve the longevity and quality of lives of patients with celiac disease.

Poursina Hakim celiac clinic is the first specialized treatment center for diagnosis, treatment and care for Patients with celiac disease. This clinic starts its mission from 2001 due to the concern of Professor Emami (Poursina Hakim founder), of community physicians’ lack of knowledge regarding celiac disease that led to misdiagnosis and incidence of disease related complications. Currently this clinic operates as a referral diagnostic center for refractory celiac disease in whole country.

The Poursina Hakim Celiac clinic formed a comprehensive health record system in order to register all referred patient from different parts of country.

Following the clinical and epidemiological researches carried out at Poursina Hakim celiac clinic, and the holding of educational courses for the community’s physicians over the past years, awareness about this disease is increased and more cases have been diagnosed each year.

In addition to Iran celiac central clinic in Isfahan, the Gastroenterologists in the other cities, as representatives of celiac society operate under the guidance and support of Professor Emami to diagnose and treat new cases of Celiac disease in Iran.

The iceberg of celiac disease is even more pronounced for the officials of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education of Iran, and despite the fact that in 2001 celiac disease was considered as a low prevalence and insignificance disease by medical universities, following the efforts of the Poursina Hakim Celiac Clinic, And educational activities (community, patient and professional education) since 2016 medical universities of Iran began to equipping university medical centers with diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopy services and registering patient records system.

Director:

Nahid Jamali, MBA

Scientific advisors board:

Seyed Mohammad Hassan Emami, MD, Internist, Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Alireza Fahim, MD, Internist, Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Hojatallah Rahimi, MD, Internist, Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Elham Amjadi, Anatomical and Clinical Pathologist

Baharm Bagherpour, MD, Molecular Medicine Specialist

Pouria Adeli, MD, oncologist

Seyed Mohamad Reza Hakimian, MD, Surgeon, Surgical Oncology Fellowship Maryam Pourbafrani, MD, Psychiatrist

Abodolmehdi Baghaei, MD, Internist

Shadi Kazemi, internist

Golnar Rozati, internist

Reza Solouki, General practitioner

Fateme Maghool, PhD, physiologist

Leyla Loghmani, BS, Nutritionist

Services

  • Visiting newly diagnosed patients and make medical records for them by a general practitioner trained in celiac disease.
  • Provide situation for patients to be diagnosed by gastroenterologist.
  • Periodic follow-up of patients according to international standard follow-up algorithm by a general practitioner.
  • Perform diagnostic and follow-up endoscopes (to check the recovery after gluten-free diet)
  • Perform medical diagnostic tests (on arrival, genetic testing, and control and care tests during follow- up period) through the Poursina Hakim laboratory.
  • Updating celiac patients registry
  • Co-operating with Iranian Celiac Society in providing educational materials for patients and their families about celiac disease and its diet.
  • Providing nutritional consults to patients.
  • Providing psychological consults to patients.
  • Educating patients to adapt themselves with Gluten- free lifestyle.
  • Co-operating with Iranian celiac association in order to provide gluten free products.

 

Patients Education

The Poursina Hakim Celiac clinic main mission is educating newly diagnosed patients with celiac disease in order to make them gain control over celiac disease, its diet and treatment and help patients to prevent and overcome the future complications of celiac disease and become compatible with it. Some of the main activities of celiac clinic is:

  •  Provide educational materials including pamphlets, books, educational videos in the field of celiac disease and Gluten Free diet.
  •  Conducting scientific conferences for patients;
  •  Patients group training;
  •  Face to face training

Main fields of patients’ education in celiac clinic are as mentioned below:

  • General education to increase recognition of the disease.
  • Patients’ education in order to learn how to live with celiac disease.
  • Family education to support a family member of the celiac community, due to the great change that is made in their lives.
  • Educational pamphlets of celiac disease
  • Scientific conferences of celiac disease
  • Educational videos about free gluten diet and cooking

Professional education

  • Given the fact celiac disease is a thousand-face disease and its differential diagnosis requires the up-to-date knowledge of specialists, the education of the medical community is of particular importance.The Poursina Hakim Celiac Clinic has organized several symposiums in cooperation with Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, for diagnosis and treatment of celiac disease with a score of training, it also held continuing education courses for physicians.Celiac clinic by cooperating with Iranian celiac society set its professional education goals to inform medical community in the fields of screening, diagnosis, treatment, follow up, care and complications control of celiac disease.Some of the performed educational programs:
    • First Celiac Symposium for interests, Gastroenterologists and Paramedicians.
    • Second celiac symposium for interests, Gastroenterologists and Paramedicians.
    • Third celiac symposium for interests, Gastroenterologists and Paramedicians, 2016, November
    • celiac disease diagnosis, treatment and complication control conference, 2010, April
    • Bloating and gas, chronic diarrhea, nutrient deficiency and its effects conference, 2011, February.
    • Forth celiac symposium for interests, Gastroenterologists and Paramedicians, 2018, October.

     

Researches Articles

  1. How frequent is celiac disease among epileptic patients? Emami MH, Taheri H, Kohestani S, Chitsaz A, Etemadifar M, Karimi S, Eshagi MA, Hashemi M. J Gastrointestin Liver Dis. 2008 Dec;17(4):379-82.
  2. Diagnostic accuracy of IgA anti-tissue transglutaminase in patients suspected of having coeliac disease in Iran. Emami MH, Karimi S, Kouhestani S, Hashemi M, Taheri H. J Gastrointestin Liver Dis. 2008 Jun;17(2):141-6.
  3. Do endoscopic markers still play a role in the diagnosis of celiac disease? Emami MH, Karimi S, Nemati A. Indian J Gastroenterol. 2008 Sep-Oct;27(5):183-5
  4. Prevalence of celiac disease in patients with irritable bowel syndrome. Emami MH*, Kouhestani S, Gholamrezaei A, Hashemi M, Mahzouni P, Raeisi M, Daghaghzadeh H, Daneshgar H. Govaresh Journal Fall 2008; 13 (1): 192-197.
  5. Is It Ok or Not? To do routine duodenal biopsies for every patent undergoing upper GI endoscopy. Emami MH*, Karimi S, Nemati A, Amani SH, Mulder C.J. Govaresh Journal Summer 2009; 14(2): 81-84.
  6. Phenotypical characterization of the peripheral blood T cells in patients with celiac disease: does it differentiate suspicious celiac disease cases? Hadi Hossein Nataj Arab, Mohsen Masjedi, Fereshteh Alsahebfosoul, Mojgan Mokhtari, Nahid Jamali, Mohammad Hassan Emami, Ali Saffaei. Gastroenterol Hepatol Bed Bench. 2015 spring; 8(2): 132–139.
  7. Evaluation of The Mean Percentages of The Peripheral Blood Gamma Delta T Lymphocytes in The Healthy Subjects and Celiac Patients in Isfahan. Ali Abtahi, Mohammad-Hassan Emami , Fereshteh Alsahebfosoul, Mohsen Masjedi, Ali Saffaei. Pheripheral Blood Gamma Delta Lymphocyte 2015; 20(2): 85-9.
  8. Celiac disease epidemiology in Iran: a review.
  9. Screening of Celiac Disease in Adult Population in Iran: Comparison of tissue Transglutaminase antibodies and antiendomysial antibody

Research projects

  1. Life experiences of people with celiac disease in Iranian celiac disease association. Fateme Rafei, 2017.
  2. Comparison of the number, phenotype and activity mode of epithelial and lamina propria lymphocytes in duodenum of celiac patients and control group in Isfahan. Mohammad Hassan Emami, Mohsen Masjedi, Hosein Nataj.
  3. A Survey on the effect of self-care program implementation on the quality of life of children with celiac disease referred to the Celiac Society of Isfahan in 2015. Zahra Ezady, Shohre Ziayi.
  4. A plan to investigate how patients treated under the Celiac Society. Fateme khizab.
  5. The relationship between follow-up of celiac patients from a gluten-free diet with EMA levels and villous atrophy. Ayda Jahanbakhsh.

Investigation of the genes involved in the development of celiac disease in Isfahan province by NGS. Ghazale Fatemi.