A Step Forward in Non-Invasive Diagnosis of Endometriosis – The Lancet Medical Imaging and Theranostics
The Lancet Medical Imaging and Theranostics shared a post on LinkedIn about a paper by Tatjana Gibbons et al. published in The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology, and Women’s Health:
“Could nuclear imaging finally help detect the ‘invisible’ form of endometriosis?
A new phase 2 study in The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology, and Women’s Health explored the use of ⁹⁹mTc-maraciclatide SPECT-CT to visualise angiogenesis in endometriosis.
Why this is important
Superficial peritoneal endometriosis, the most common subtype, often cannot be reliably detected with standard imaging such as ultrasound or MRI, leaving many patients dependent on diagnostic laparoscopy.
In this exploratory study:
- Imaging findings were concordant with surgery in ~84% of participants
- The technique identified endometriosis in most surgically confirmed cases
- Importantly, it also showed potential for detecting superficial peritoneal disease
The bigger picture
This study highlights an exciting direction for molecular imaging in women’s health. Rather than imaging anatomy alone, this approach targets the underlying biology of disease i.e., angiogenesis and inflammation with potentially opening the door to less invasive diagnosis in a condition still associated with major diagnostic delays.
While larger validation studies are clearly needed, this is a fascinating example of imaging moving into areas where conventional modalities continue to struggle.
Read here.”
Title: Assessment of endometriosis angiogenesis using 99mTc-maraciclatide imaging (DETECT): a single-centre, exploratory, open-label, non-randomised, phase 2 study
Authors: Tatjana Gibbons, Munir Ghesani, Druin Burch, Sarah Cade, Richard Graham, Francesco Di Chiara, Neel Patel, Jon Barnett, Krina Zondervan, Christian Becker
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