Edmonton, Alberta – A first in western Canada, access to TIER-1 ENDOSURE testing for the rapid, painless and accurate diagnosis of endometriosis is now offered at Links Medical Clinic, located within Mira Health Centre, Edmonton, Alberta. Led by Dr. Sam Azer, OB/GYN, the ENDOSURE test drops the diagnostic gap for endometriosis from the current 5.3-year Canadian average to just 30-minutes. Patients can access care by calling the clinic at +1 (780) 454–0351.
Dr. Azer’s practice focuses on the diagnosis, treatment, and ongoing management of gynecologic and reproductive health concerns in women. Adoption of TIER-1 ENDOSURE testing for endometriosis bypasses years-long surgical delays and shifts the focus to provision of comprehensive care for patients. As a consulting specialist, Dr. Azer accepts referrals from both family physicians and specialists via fax to the Links Medical Clinic at +1 (780) 429-0372.
Endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory condition affecting one in ten Canadian women and can cause significant pain, gastrointestinal symptoms, and infertility. Endometriosis often evades early detection as current imaging technologies can miss superficial disease experienced in the majority (80%+) of sufferers. A diagnostic laparoscopy (i.e. surgery) is the current gold standard for diagnosis. Long wait times to access specialist care, receive imaging studies, and undergo diagnostic surgery has led to a 5.3 year average diagnostic gap in Canada – the time between first symptom presentation and a diagnosis. For patients, this means years of suffering from pelvic pain, GI issues, and fertility problems before receiving a diagnosis and care. For the healthcare system, lack of TIER-1 testing significantly increases healthcare costs and waitlists for both imaging studies and surgery.
The ENDOSURE test is the only TIER-1 test for endometriosis. Authorized for sale by Health Canada, this highly accurate, rapid and painless diagnostic test is similar to an ECG (electrocardiogram). In 30-minutes ENDOSURE detects all stages of endometriosis and is appropriate for all ages of patients. With the introduction of ENDOSURE testing at Links Medical Clinic, Dr. Azer and his team are the first in Alberta, and Western Canada, to offer rapid diagnosis and management of endometriosis.
The ENDOSURE Test utilizes electroviscerography (EVG) which looks for distinctive gastrointestinal myoelectrical activity (GIMA) seizure patterns that are unique to endometriosis sufferers, known as the “GIMA biomarker for endometriosis”. Similar to an electrocardiogram (ECG), but for the gut, three sensors are placed on the abdomen during testing to record GIMA activity after a water load, which incites GIMA seizure patterns. After a 30-minute recording, the ENDOSURE Test gives near-instant diagnostic results without the need to send any biological samples away for analysis. ENDOSURE is a clinical decision support tool, with results interpreted by medical professionals, alongside clinical assessment, to guide diagnosis and treatment.
Clinical trials, with surgical confirmation, have shown high concordance between ENDOSURE results and laparoscopic findings, with published sensitivity of 95% and specificity of 96% for age cohorts 35 years or less. A landmark study published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine substantiated ENDOSURE’s ability to detect endometriosis even in patients with negative ultrasound or MRI imaging results, highlighting the test’s potential to complement existing diagnostic modalities.1 Interim results of a validating study of the Defining the Role of the GIMA Biomarker in the Diagnosis of Endometriosis from CHU Bruggman in Brussels, Belgium also validated the test with 100% sensitivity.2
Study results were presented at the AAGL Global Conference on MIGS, presenting in Vancouver, BC 2025.
Traditional diagnosis currently involves transvaginal ultrasound (TVUS) and MRI imaging, which can reliably detect certain disease subtypes, including deep infiltrating endometriosis and endometriomas. However, 85% of women suffering with endometriosis have superficial disease, a disease subtype marked by small, flat lesions of endometriosis which can’t be imaged reliably. The lack of reliable, non-invasive testing that could detect all disease subtypes has meant that laparoscopic surgery remains the current gold standard for diagnosis as it provided direct visualization of endometriosis despite, the sub-type, along with histopathologic confirmation. This invasive and costly diagnosis is also at the core of an 8.6 years diagnostic gap.
The TIER-1 ENDOSURE Test offers several practical advantages to the need for surgery, just to make a diagnosis including:
- Non-invasive and painless, requiring no anesthesia or tissue biopsy
- Full test is conducted in less than an hour
- Clear results based on objective, physiological data that support clinical decision-making
- Lower cost compared to surgical diagnostic procedures, offering a more accessible first-line assessment
- By providing early objective evidence of disease presence, ENDOSURE can help prioritize patients for further evaluation or treatment, potentially reducing unnecessary surgeries and diagnostic delays.
The ENDOSURE® system is distributed in Canada by EndoDiagnosis Inc.
References
- Noar, M.; Mathias, J.; Kolatkar, A. Gastrointestinal Myoelectrical Activity (GIMA) Biomarker for Noninvasive Diagnosis of Endometriosis. J. Clin. Med. 2024, 13, 2866. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm13102866
- Defining the Role of the Gastrointestinal Myoelectrical Activity (GIMA) Biomarker in the Diagnosis of Endometriosis. Tanos, P et al. Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecology, Volume 32, Issue 11, S23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmig.2025.09.027