2023-07-06 07:07:18
In Marseille, a pilot consultation center dedicated to endometriosis
The first consultation center dedicated to endometriosis opened in Marseille in early spring 2023. Women are received there for screening, confirming a test and, if necessary, considering solutions within a reasonable time.
A pilot consultation dedicated to endometriosis was launched in the spring of 2023 in Marseille. It represents a new stage in a long-term project, carried out for six years by a pool of doctors and caregivers.. This consultation follows the creation of an application dedicated to endometriosis, Luna for healthmaking it possible in particular to carry out a diagnostic aid test.
“Now, in just a few clicks, women can also make a physical or teleconsultation appointment. They find there an offer of first resort, the opportunity to talk regarding their cycle, to consider appropriate solutions. They can schedule good quality ultrasounds within seven days in the event of an anomaly or uncertainty, or the next appointment, or even an MRI if necessary”, explains Dr Jean-Philippe Estrade, gynecologist-obstetrician, specialist in endometriosis in the center EndoMarseille Provence.
Establish a coordinated care pathway within acceptable timeframes
Since its creation, at the rate of two to three days a week, this consultation installed in the enclosure of the Bouchard clinic, in Marseilles, is full. It takes regarding two weeks to get an appointment, physical or video. “Since March, I have seen regarding twenty women a week. They are referred to me by other midwives or they make an appointment following the LunaEndoScore test (which indicates whether the risk of endometriosis is low moderate or high) which they have often already done before the first consultation”, explains Carole Zakarian, midwife and director of the University School of Maieutics Aix-Marseille University.
She is the one who provides the consultations (charged at €25, of which €17.50 is covered by Social Security). “My job is cut out for coordination,” she says. I know if it is necessary to carry out other examinations, to consult a surgeon or rather a gynecologist and to direct the women who teleconsult to a referral center in their region”.
The advantages are considerable in many respects: it is an added value for the patients who feel listened to and understood, a saving of time for all and the creation of a real link allowing a coordinated course of care.
“The majority of women who consult are over 30 years old and have been dragging pain for years, which they are trying to cope with. Often, they have not yet met the right interlocutor and know little regarding their disease. There are also younger ones, who have taken the test via the Luna app and want to make sure that everything is fine, to check whether certain pains or discomfort are normal or not, ”depicts the midwife. “We are not revolutionizing anything, confirms Dr. Estrade, but we are doing faster and better by striving to remove the barriers”.
Improving the management of endometriosis
The Luna start-up was co-founded in 2018 by Pr Charles Chapron, head of the gynecology-obstetrics and reproductive medicine department at Cochin Port Royal Hospital in Paris, and by Dr Jean-Philippe Estrade. Both are aware that the management of endometriosis is far from satisfactory.
Their idea is to develop a diagnostic aid test accessible to all women : it will be LunaEndoScore® (labeled CE Medical Device and CE certified) which for 3€ allows screening in a few minutes, thanks to a questionnaire leading to a risk score. Since its launch in 2021, more than 40,000 women have tested themselves this way.
The application is a first interface. But what to offer to women whose score is high (those who very often have painful periods, even discomfort, and are at risk of infertility)? Very quickly, the need to go beyond the pre-diagnosis becomes apparent.. “And to break unacceptable medical delays, insists Dr. Jean-Philippe Estrade. It takes on average 7 to 10 years and 5 doctors consulted to make a diagnosis. Then 2 more years to find the solution” (figures froman IPSOS survey*). Behind these figures, he laments a lot of suffering and distress “I often meet patients with a very heavy past, who have been told that it’s all in their head, who have not been taken seriously, who have endured pain for years, are infertile and feel to have missed out on their lives”.
Arm women and deploy this consultation
Today, the team also wishes to practice “therapeutic education” and coach women affected by this pathology., to make them experts in their disease. Indeed, it is important that they have the knowledge and tools to choose their treatment (hormonal, surgical, medically assisted procreation, etc.). Above all, this FrenchTech medical start-up, supported by Bpi Franceintends to consolidate its model to make it sustainable and then gradually deploy it throughout the national territory.
*IPSOS survey carried out in January 2020 among 1557 women with endometriosis.
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