Simplified diagnosis of endometriosis possible with stool test

Low levels of certain compounds in your feces may be a sign of endometriosis, and supplementing with those compounds may also help control your symptoms.

Endometriosis, which affects about 200 million people worldwide, occurs when the tissue lining the uterus grows in other parts of the reproductive tract. There is no known cure, but once the condition is diagnosed, lesions can be removed periodically through surgery. However, it currently takes more than six years on average for endometriosis to be diagnosed, largely due to a lack of awareness and understanding.

Previous research suggests that the gut microbiome may play a role in this condition. To investigate further, ramakrishna konmagani and colleagues at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, collected stool samples from 18 women with endometriosis and 31 women without endometriosis. They investigated the bacteria in feces and the metabolome, the set of chemicals produced by gut bacteria.

They found that women with endometriosis had lower levels of the metabolite 4-hydroxyindole in their feces. This is likely due to changes in the gut microbiome.

Based on this finding, commercially available stool analysis could enable rapid screening of this widely “underdiagnosed, understudied, and underdiagnosed” condition, potentially leading to early and effective management. Konmagani said.

“Stool sampling is very easy and not as invasive as current diagnostic techniques such as laparoscopy.” [a kind of keyhole surgery]” he says.

To test whether 4-hydroxyindole had a protective effect, the research team gave additional 4-hydroxyindole to a group of mice that had tissue implanted in their abdomens to induce endometriosis. After 14 days of treatment, these mice did not have fewer lesions compared to control animals, but the lesions were significantly less severe and showed signs of significantly reduced pain.

Further experiments showed that administering 4-hydroxyindole to mice with established endometriosis significantly improved the lesions. The results were similar in mice transplanted with human endometriosis lesions, suggesting that the treatment may be equally effective in humans.

“We believe this is a very good treatment option because it is something that occurs naturally in the body and is not drugged or synthetic,” Konmaghani said. I say.

However, large-scale human studies will be needed to confirm whether 4-hydroxyindole can be used to diagnose endometriosis and whether the compound is effective as a treatment.