Thank you for the question.
I absolutely agree with what you're mentioning.
When patients come to see us and we give them a diagnosis of endometriosis, one of the first things they ask is why they have endometriosis. There we are all looking at them and trying to give an answer when we really don't know why. We have many theories why this disease is occurring, and it's probably a combination of all, but we don't exactly know the perfect pathogenesis, nor do we find perfect DNA or genetic answers for patients. I think, from the get-go, research needs to tackle that. When we know the origin and exact cause, that would also help us develop research in developing medications or targeted medications toward endometriosis. Currently, all medications treating endometriosis are hormonal-based, because we know that this condition is a hormone-dependent disease. Invariably, if we do advance research more, we will be able to find ways of treating endometriosis better.
We always talk about three areas or barriers to care: number one is awareness, number two is diagnosis and number three is treatment. In diagnosis as well, currently we're relying heavily on imaging, on MRIs—ultrasound mainly, if not MRIs. Now, laparoscopy is really used mostly to treat endometriosis, but if we can find diagnostic methods that are less invasive, then even the people in the remote areas can have access to these and have a quicker diagnosis.