Following the news that the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has agreed to update its guidelines on endometriosis diagnosis and surgical management when fertility is a priority;

Amy Murray, Healthcare Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers her view:

“The updated NICE guidelines on endometriosis marks the first such update since 2017, representing a huge milestone for patients and practitioners alike.

“Endometriosis is a very common, yet highly underrepresented, disease that still lacks proper research, funding, and awareness among the medical community and public. The lack of non-invasive diagnostic methods means that many women wait eight years on average for a diagnosis after initial symptom onset, a figure that has not changed in a decade. The update to NICE’s guidelines expands on these issues, as well as other challenges relating to the surgical management of the disease—particularly in women where fertility is a priority.

“Following NICE’s surveillance review, it concluded that there was sufficient new evidence to support the use of non-invasive diagnostic imaging for specific endometriosis types, including rectosigmoid. Other evidence identified during the review indicated the potential use of laparoscopically guided transversus abdominis plane block (LTAP) and port-site local anesthetic infiltration (LAI), as well as laser vaporization in women where fertility is a priority to help minimize the damage to healthy ovarian tissue that cystectomy often causes.

“The implementation of these updated NICE guidelines across the National Health Service will not only encourage greater awareness of the disease among both the medical community and the public but also help to improve the diagnosis and surgical management for the many women who suffer from endometriosis and do not get the attention they deserve.”