The only treatment for celiac disease is strict adherence to a gluten-free diet and, in an ideal world, compliance with this treatment would reverse all symptoms and physical attributes of the disease (i.e. damage to the small intestine). Unfortunately, that is not always the case; many patients continue to experience a wide range of symptoms and, in some cases, persistent intestinal damage in the form of villous atrophy (flattened villi). Researchers at Columbia University sought to more closely analyze these cases.