Emerging research in Australia could eventually lead to a less invasive way to diagnosis endometriosis — with patients and advocates in New Zealand watching closely for a hoped-for breakthrough.
In New Zealand, more than 120,000 women suffer from the condition. Research last year revealed New Zealand wait times for a diagnosis had pushed out from 8.7 years to 10 years
“A faster, less invasive test could significantly reduce the 10 years on average it takes to diagnose the condition,” Tanya Cooke, CEO of Endometriosis NZ told 1News.
Those living with endometriosis would have a “significantly improved quality of life” after being diagnosed and having healthcare become available.
“To fully take advantage of innovations in endometriosis care, New Zealand should be following Australia’s lead and developing a comprehensive endometriosis action plan,” Cooke said.
Australian researchers say successful detection of a panel of proteins is an “encouraging” development. (Source: 1News)
A researcher with the trial and study, Professor Peter Rogers of Women’s Health at the University of Melbourne, told 1News the developments were “very exciting” but there was “still a lot of work to do”.
“The blood’s full of different proteins. We realise that there will never be a single marker for endometriosis — a single protein — because it’s quite a variable disease.”
“The theory is that if you can get a panel of proteins, maybe you can cover the different types of endometriosis and — hopefully — find a way of identifying it based on the blood sample.”
Although this test wasn’t perfect “yet” and researchers have found enough of a signal to feel “very encouraged”.
Endometriosis wasn’t the only condition causing pelvic pain and infertility, which was another reason researchers wanted a less invasive way to diagnose whether a women had endometriosis or not.
“We still end up doing exploratory surgery on a lot of women, who have bad symptoms but it turns out that it’s not due to endo,” Professor Rogers said. “You could straight away prevent a lot of unnecessary operations.”
Those with the debilitating-condition would also have shortened diagnosis wait times — via a simple blood test instead of invasive surgery.
“If there was a blood test, I think most people are used to the idea of going to their GP having a blood test taken and getting it tested for various things.
“So, it should reduce the time to diagnosis significantly.”
Due to the ongoing research and trials still needed, it was likely to take some time before any tests might come online — but more than 100,000 New Zealanders will be watching on, and hoping.