Endometriosis is a chronic disease where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus. Women are susceptible to this disease over a significant portion of their lives, starting with their first menstrual period, extending through until menopause. For all the advances in medical science, the disease has no known cure. Even its cause(s) are still not fully understood. The incidence of endometriosis is quite high, with it affecting one in nine women and girls. And its financial cost to the Australian economy is immense, with Endometriosis Australia citing a figure of almost $10 billion (with around two-thirds attributed to a lost productivity and the remainder direct healthcare costs).
Over the years, efforts by health care professionals to diagnose a patient with this disease have been complicated and time consuming. This because sufferers of endometriosis often present with symptoms that could be caused by a host of other ailments.
These symptoms could be pain accompanying normal body functions like periods, sexual intercourse, bowel movements and/or urination. Chronic pelvic pain, abdominal bloating, nausea and fatigue also often present in sufferers. Then there is the damage done to the mental state of sufferers, with some enduring depression and anxiety. Further complicating diagnosis of the disease, some sufferers exhibit no symptoms at all.
And on top of all the suffering caused by endometriosis, it can also potentially make it harder for women to start families.
At least accurate early detection of endometriosis is close at hand
While endometriosis has no cure, the symptoms of the disease are treatable. And, like so many other incurable diseases, the quicker endometriosis is diagnosed, the better the chance of more effectively lessening the health consequences of its symptoms.
Unfortunately, for all too long, an accurate early detection test for endometriosis was as elusive pipedream. Sufferers endured many years – in many cases seven years and longer – of testing before they were diagnosed with the disease. These long-time testing methods were also found to have sub-par accuracy levels. This meant patients remained in an extended state of flux before treatments were prescribed, which range from medicines all the way through to invasive surgical procedures.
But now a recent study has validated the effectiveness of a new game-changing early detection test for endometriosis.
Proteomics has unveiled a new blood test for endometriosis
ASX-listed biotech Proteomics International Laboratories (ASX:PIQ) has recently announced very promising results for a new blood test for diagnosing endometriosis (see ASX announcement dated 24 March 2023). These results were presented at the 70th Annual Meeting of the international Society for Reproductive Investigation held in March 2023. The simple test uses biomarkers—protein ‘fingerprints’ in the blood—to screen for the painful condition. The Company’s preferred prototype correctly identified up to 90% of patients when comparing moderate or severe endometriosis to symptomatic controls (no endometriosis) in a 901 person study.
Commenting on the study results, Proteomics International Managing Director Dr Richard Lipscombe said “We have a potential screening test for endometriosis—a simple blood test to help determine who should have an invasive laparoscopy and who should not. But the study also suggests the current gold standard for diagnosis—an invasive surgical procedure—may be misdiagnosing some patients, particularly in the early stages of endometriosis.”
Proteomics is now undertaking follow up research aimed at further proving up the effectiveness of its blood test, with Dr Lipscombe adding “We need to study more people in the early stages of endometriosis or with symptoms and to look more closely at their existing diagnosis.”
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