The Game-Changing New Endometriosis Tests Women Need to Demand
If you’ve spent years chasing an endometriosis diagnosis, only to be told your excruciating pain is "just bad periods" or IBS, or your fertility challenges ‘could’ be endo you are not alone. Between the gaslighting and the agonizingly long wait times for diagnostic surgery, the road to answers is exhausting.
But the landscape is shifting. Right now in the UK, medical advancements are introducing game-changing, non-invasive tests for endometriosis that women worldwide including here in the US deserve to know about and start asking for.
Here is everything you need to know about the first major breakthrough: The Saliva microRNA Test.
What is the Endometriosis Saliva Test?
Currently making waves across Europe and within the UK's NHS, this simple saliva test can detect endometriosis with incredibly high accuracy.
Breaking down the science into plain language, the process is entirely hands-off for the patient:
Step 1: You simply spit into a collection tube.
Step 2: The lab analyzes tiny genetic messengers called microRNAs present in your saliva.
Step 3: A specialized AI algorithm recognizes the distinct "endo fingerprint" or molecular signature in your body.
(Here’s where you can find it - https://ziwig.com/en/ziwig-endotest/) It’s not currently available in all countries.
Why the Saliva microRNA Test is a Breakthrough
For decades, the gold standard for diagnosing endometriosis has been invasive laparoscopic surgery. This new test turns that paradigm on its head for three massive reasons:
100% Non-Invasive: There is no surgery, no hospital stay, and no anesthesia required to get answers.
High Sensitivity and Specificity: Clinical studies show that the molecular screening is highly accurate at identifying the disease.
Catches What Scans Miss: It can detect endometriosis even when standard pelvic ultrasounds or MRIs come back completely normal.
Why this matters: The saliva test doesn’t rely on a radiologist physically seeing a lesion on a screen. Instead, it reads the molecular signature left behind by the disease. This means it can flag "silent" endo - such as small, superficial peritoneal lesions - that routinely slip past traditional imaging.
If you’ve ever been dismissed with the phrase, "Your scans look clear, so it can’t be endo," this test is a revolutionary new way to finally be taken seriously by the medical community.
2. What is the EndoSure Gut‑Signal Test
The second innovation changing the diagnostic game is a test that quite literally listens to your gut’s electrical activity.
Because endometriosis frequently causes severe gastrointestinal symptoms (often misdiagnosed as IBS), this test looks at the complex relationship between your pelvic nerves and digestive system:
Step 1: Non-invasive sensors are placed on your abdomen.
Step 2: These sensors record the active electrical signals firing from your gut and pelvic region.
Step 3: Because endometriosis creates a highly distinctive electrical pattern, a specialized algorithm analyzes your data to see if it matches the "endo signature."
Why the EndoSure Test Matters
Instant Results: Instead of waiting weeks for laboratory results or months for an operating room slot, EndoSure provides results on the order of minutes.
Comprehensive Detection: It is designed to track and detect the disease across various stages and physical locations, mapping out complex patterns that imaging misses.
A Functional Snapshot: It provides your care team with real-time data on exactly how your gut and pelvic nerves are behaving, giving immediate validation to your pain.
The Next Frontier: Managing Endo Pain and Inflammation with Photobiomodulation (PBM / LLLT)
Finding out you have endometriosis early changes everything - especially when it comes to planning your treatment roadmap. When non-invasive options like the microRNA saliva screening or the EndoSure test provide fast answers, it opens the door for highly precise, tissue-sparing interventions.
While advanced surgical CO2 laser excision remains crucial for removing lesions, a highly buzzed-about, non-invasive therapeutic partner is stepping into the spotlight: Photobiomodulation (PBM), also widely known as Low-Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) or cold laser therapy.
Instead of cutting or vaporizing tissue, PBM utilizes specific wavelengths of red and near-infrared light to penetrate deeply into the body without producing heat or tissue damage.
What the Research Says About Red Light Therapy for Endometriosis
Clinical studies are increasingly showing how LLLT directly targets the root biological drivers of endometriosis discomfort—inflammation, nerve hypersensitivity, and cellular dysfunction.
Significant Reduction in Pelvic Pain: A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial published in Surgery and Clinical Practice (2024) evaluated LLLT for chronic pelvic pain syndromes associated with conditions like endometriosis. The researchers found that women in the LLLT treatment group experienced a statistically significant reduction in pain scores and a noticeable improvement in overall quality of life compared to the placebo group.
Combating Chronic Inflammation: Animal models explicitly mapping endometriosis (such as a landmark study by Dos Anjos et al.) demonstrated that photobiomodulation therapy dramatically decreases pro-inflammatory markers and local pelvic edema. By shifting the pelvic environment away from chronic inflammation, it stops pain signals at the source.
Improving Fertility Outcomes: A clinical case study highlighted the use of multi-wavelength red and near-infrared PBM laser therapy for complex reproductive profiles involving endometriosis and low ovarian reserve. PBM works on a mitochondrial level to boost ATP (cellular energy), enhance local microcirculation, and soften fibrotic scar tissue - ultimately helping to optimize the endometrial lining for better reproductive outcomes.
Targeting Deep Pelvic Pain (Dyspareunia): Human clinical trials are directly evaluating targeted transvaginal photobiomodulation - using specialized, non-invasive pelvic wands (like the SoLa Pelvic Therapy system) to deliver light energy straight to hypertonic pelvic floor muscles and inflamed tissues. This protocol is showing incredible safety and success in relieving deep pelvic pain and painful intercourse (dyspareunia).
A Dynamic Duo: Accurate Screening + Advanced Home Solasta Laser Care
By combining cutting-edge molecular diagnostics (like saliva and gut-signal tests) with innovative light treatments like red light laser therapy the endometriosis community is moving into an era of drug-free, non-invasive, and highly personalized care - and it’s about time!
Questions we should be asking about these new tests
As exciting as these tests are, there are important questions we all should be asking - women, clinicians, and advocates alike:
1. Who were these tests developed and validated on?
Do they work just as well in diverse, real‑world populations - different ages, ethnicities, and symptom profiles as they did in the original research cohorts?
2. Are they being used to support good care, or quietly replace it?
Will these tests be integrated with high‑quality imaging, clinical exams, and (when needed) laparoscopy, or will they become an excuse to avoid mapping disease and understanding the full picture?
3. What happens after a positive or negative result?
If your saliva test or gut‑signal test is positive, does that actually change access to treatment, pain management, or fertility support—or are you still stuck on the same waitlists?
If the test is negative, how do clinicians avoid dismissing symptoms in someone who still might have endo?
4. Who gets access—and who doesn’t?
Will these tests be available in public systems and covered for those who need them most, or mainly in private clinics for people who can pay out of pocket?
5. Are we protecting against overdiagnosis and overtreatment?
How do we make sure these powerful tools are used for symptomatic people who truly need answers, rather than turned into broad screening that may label and treat people who get no real benefit?
6. How transparent are the algorithms?
Can independent researchers and clinicians properly audit how these tests work, what data they were trained on, and how robust they are—or are we being asked to trust a black box?
These questions don’t mean we should reject new tests.
They mean we should welcome them with our eyes open, making sure they’re part of a smarter, kinder diagnostic journey—not just another shiny tool that leaves the old problems in place.
(One big concern I have is how medical systems will cope with a huge increase of women (and maybe some men too) being properly diagnosed and needing more invasive treatment options).
How to start demanding these tests in the US
If you’re reading this from the US, here are three concrete steps:
Bring the names and concepts to your doctor.
Say something like:
“I’ve been reading about saliva‑based microRNA tests that can pick up endometriosis even when imaging is normal, and about non‑invasive electrical‑signal tests used in the UK. What’s available here, and how can we access similar modern diagnostics?”Ask about clinical trials and advanced diagnostics.
Some centers may be running research versions of these tests or offering other advanced non‑invasive tools. Ask directly whether there are trials or specialty clinics you can be referred to.Use your voice collectively.
When enough women ask for modern, non‑invasive tests that can see endometriosis even when scans are “silent,” it pressures health systems, insurers, and regulators to pay attention, and catch up with what’s already being done overseas.
Read my most recent blogs on red light laser therapy and endo.
https://blog.tracydonegan.org/blog/does-red-light-therapy-for-endometriosis-does-it-work
https://blog.tracydonegan.org/blog/red-light-therapy-for-endometriosis
