Specialist scanning needed to help endo patients
A review of existing research shows there is a growing benefit to using specialist scanning to diagnose endometriosis.
Endometriosis affects 1 in 9 women and those assigned female at birth. However, it takes 6.4 years to diagnose using the conventional standard of surgical laparoscopy.
Standard transvaginal and external ultrasounds can be used as a step in the diagnosis process, but there’s a growing push for imaging to be used as a first tool for diagnosis.
ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø Endometriosis Research Group Head Professor Louise Hull, Imagendo Program Manager Dr Jodie Avery and their team are calling for increased Medicare coverage for diagnostic imaging services.
The group reviewed more than 60 published papers focusing on imaging for endometriosis diagnosis, particularly looking at specialist endometriosis magnetic resonance imaging (eMRI), nuclear medicine, computed tomography (CT), endometriosis specialist transvaginal ultrasound (eTVUS) and artificial intelligence.
“Endometriosis scans take longer, and many private providers