Exeter, Ont. clinic among first to provide innovative technology for women’s health

New technology to diagnose endometriosis, offered by only a handful of clinics in Canada, has been unveiled in Exeter. CTV London’s Scott Miller reports.

A disease that impacts over one million Canadians each year, may have a new way to be diagnosed.

“It’s sort of like an EKG where it’s just listening to the electrical activity. An EKG would listen to the electrical activity in the heart. This will listen to the electrical activity that is in the small bowel, and it picks up a fingerprint or a very specific frequency of electrical activity that tells us endometriosis is present,” says Maria Porcellato, CEO of Alberta-based, EndoDiagnosis.

Endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory disease that can lead to pelvic pain, heavy menstrual bleeding, and infertility or subfertility, in seven per cent of Canadian women. It’s also very elusive to diagnose, taking upwards of five years in Canada for a definitive diagnosis, which typically ends in surgery to try and correct — EndoSure aims to change that.

“On average worldwide, it’s 8.6 years to get into surgery and to get diagnosed. This drops it to less than an hour where women are able to get it, and it’s accessible and very, very portable,” says Porcellato.

Only a handful of clinics offer the new endometriosis diagnostic tool in Canada, but the Exeter Massage Therapy and Integrative Care clinic, is now one of them.

People that live in rural communities, don’t want to go into big cities. Unfortunately that can be a big deterrent of something that could be life changing for them. And so, working to kind of break down those barriers that I see that are common with a lot of people, I think that just makes sense to me,” says the Owner/Operator of Exeter Massage Therapy and Integrative Care, Stephanie Vandenbussche.

Inspired by the founder of Preventative Healthcare Awareness Month, Margarety Wallis-Duffy, Vandenbussche also offers Ostesound REMS Bone Scans, to help clients curious about whether they have Osteoporosis or not.

“We’re, I guess going against the current from what everyone is normally doing. But that’s how you actually create true legacy change. And at the end of the day, that is my goal, to create legacy change in our healthcare system,” says Vandenbussche, who has been a registered massage therapist for more than 20 years.

Wallis-Duffy says as part of Preventative Healthcare Awareness Month, she’s assembled more than 75 health care professionals across Canada to try and make preventative healthcare top of mind for patients and practitioners.

“Working better together to break down the silos, but with one mission in mind. And that’s to put the everyday Canadian at the center of their care, to stock their preventative health toolbox, to improve their health esteem so they can better advocate and recognize that they’re the most important member of their health care team,” says Wallis-Duffy.

While the EndoSure and Osteosound Bone scans are currently only offered in private clinics, Wallis-Duffy says they are working to bring both tier one tests to the publicly-funded healthcare system.

“So these types of technologies, these preventative tools that are new and not yet fully adopted by the health care community, we’re doing our part to educate physicians, educate insurance companies, educate politicians, and advocate for change, because we all deserve it, and our system is strained,” says Wallis-Duffy.

“There’s so many women that are suffering with endometriosis without answers, and with laparoscopic surgery being the only thing, and it isn’t even necessarily definitive, having something that’s non-invasive is important,” says Vandenbussche.

“This is something that can be very cost saving to the taxpayer, to the government. It’s something that should become standard of care so that we can screen people,” added Porcellato.