The Edmonton-based distributor of EndoSure is hoping the new, quick, and non-invasive test can help reduce the number of patients suffering from advanced endometriosis.
“This is going to be a big change, because right now we’re basically finding and treating end-stage disease, but now we can find it at Stage 1,” said Carolyn Plican, chief operating officer of EndoDiagnosis. “So think about cancer that way — if we could only find Stage 4 cancer, there’s a certain amount of care that you can do for pain relief and that kind of thing, but if you could find it at Stage 1, there’s prevention that can be done.”
EndoDiagnosis announced in December that Edmonton’s Links Medical Clinic was the first in Western Canada to offer the 30-minute EndoSure test; the only other Canadian location is in London, ON. Gynecologist Sam Azer, who administers the test at Links, will discuss the technology at the Women’s Health Symposium in Edmonton on April 25, along with Plican and EndoDiagnosis CEO Maria Porcellato.
Endometriosis is a disease where tissue similar to the endometrium — which normally lines the uterus — grows outside of it. The disease can be extremely painful, especially during menstrual periods, sex, bowel movements, and urination. The cause for endometriosis is not clear, and there is no cure. Endometriosis is commonly linked to infertility. Patients typically start experiencing endometriosis pain around their first menstrual period, but it can take 10 years or longer to diagnose the disease.
The most common diagnostic method is via laparoscopy, where a doctor surgically inserts a camera into the abdomen to search for endometrial tissue. But that method typically only catches mid- to late-stage disease, because if the disease hasn’t progressed enough, the tissue won’t be visible. The EndoSure test is administered with a tool similar to an electrocardiogram, but instead of recording the heart’s electrical activity, it measures electrical impulses in the bowel that are only present in patients with endometriosis. Plican said the test takes 30 minutes and is 99% accurate. It is not available for clinical use in the United States, where it was developed.
If endometriosis is diagnosed when the patient is a teenager, they can pursue treatments such as supplements, an anti-inflammatory diet, and hormonal birth control. “In 10 years, I think we could eliminate end-stage disease — maybe not down to zero, but we could unlock early treatment and preventative (care) and then clear out through the system people who have unfortunately advanced,” Plican said.
Plican works as a fertility care instructor, but she was motivated to bring the EndoSure test to more patients while watching her daughter suffer from endometriosis. The symptoms started when she was around 13, and she was recently diagnosed using EndoSure at age 20.
“When your kid is suffering in pain like that, you don’t feel good. Nothing is right until that’s fixed,” Plican said. “I knew all of the symptoms and signs, and it’s developed to the point where she can’t walk at certain times in the month. I don’t want this happening to other girls — that’s what motivates me.”