Gastrointestinal Myoelectrical Activity (GIMA) Biomarker for Noninvasive Diagnosis of Endometriosis

Mark D. Noar, John R. Mathias, Ajit Kolatkar
Journal of clinical medicine · 2024 · vol. 13(10) , pp. 2866 · doi:10.3390/jcm13102866 · PMID:38792407 · W4396848871
article OA: gold CC0 ⤵ 3 in-corpus citations
🔓 Open OA copy View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

Electroviscerography identified gastrointestinal myoelectrical activity biomarkers that accurately distinguished individuals with and without endometriosis.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Endometriosis represents substantial direct and indirect healthcare costs impacted by an absence of uniformly accurate, non-invasive diagnostic tools. We endeavored to demonstrate gastrointestinal myoelectrical activity (GIMA) biomarkers, unique to endometriosis, will allow non-invasive, uniformly accurate diagnosis or exclusion of endometriosis. Methods: Prospective open-label comparative study of 154 patients, age ≥ 18, with or without diagnosed endometriosis. Population included 62 non-endometriosis controls (Cohort 1), 43 subjects with surgically/histologically confirmed endometriosis (Cohort 2), and 49 subjects with abdominal pain and negative imaging (Cohort 3). Non-invasive electroviscerography (EVG) recorded GIMA biomarkers from three abdominal electrodes before and 30 min post water load protocol. Cohort 2 had postoperative EVG and Cohort 3 had preoperative EVG. Calculated specificity, sensitivity, negative predictive value (NPV), positive predictive value (PPV), and predictive probability or C-statistic used univariate, multivariate, linear, and logistical regression analyses of the area under the curve (AUC) at all frequency and time points, including age and pain covariants. Results: The non-endometriosis cohort differed significantly from the endometriosis cohorts (p < 0.001) for median (IQR) and AUC percent frequency distribution of power at baseline, 10 min, 20 min, and 30 min post water load at all frequency ranges: 15–20 cpm, 30–40 cpm, and 40–50 cpm. The endometriosis cohorts were statistically similar (p > 0.05). GIMA biomarker threshold scoring demonstrated 95%/91% sensitivity and PPV, 96%/95% specificity and NPV, and a C-statistic of >99%/98%, respectively, for age subsets. GIMA biomarkers in Cohort 3 predicted 47/49 subjects positive and 2/49 negative for endometriosis, confirmed surgically. Hormonal therapy, surgical stage, nor pain score affected diagnostic accuracy. Conclusions: EVG with GIMA biomarker detection distinguished participants with and without endometriosis based upon endometriosis-specific GIMA biomarkers threshold scoring.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosis

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (44)

Cited by (3)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-06-04T01:30:01.192114+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-04T00:00:01.174412+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-05-20T00:32:46.439342+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK