THERE is a small but notable irony in that an award-winning medical instrument developed in Scotland in 1993 should now have only limited availability here.

As we report today, young women who suffer from a painful gynaecological disorder, endometriosis, do not enjoy widespread access to the procedure known as laparoscopic helium ablation (LHA), which is carried out using the Helica Thermal Coagulator. This device was created by an Edinburgh engineer, Mr Maurice Howieson, as a means of stopping internal bleeding, but a Glasgow-based gynaecologist, Dr Robert Hawthorn, was quick to detect that it would be useful in treating endometriosis.

Painkillers and hormone pills are used to cloak the symptoms of endometriosis but many women may end up having either a hysterectomy or laparoscopy – the latter a form of keyhole surgery which users lasers to get rid of problem cells but which, however, cannot be used near sensitive organs. The LHA-Helica procedure is able to accurately remove endometriosis from all areas, including vital organs.

Research would appear to indicate that the procedure can bring about positive results, with one study observing that more than 87 per cent of patients had symptoms that were reversed or even improved six months after undergoing it. A second found that 20 per cent of those who were treated for endometriosis and infertility went on to conceive within six months of the procedure.

It is clearly a positive story, but the question arises as to why so many women in Scotland with endometriosis are not given access to this procedure. At the present moment, only five health boards offer it – NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Lanarkshire, Forth Valley Lothian and Tayside – but large swathes of the country, including the Highlands, Aberdeen and Ayrshire, are not able to offer the operation.

This seems particularly unfair since many hospitals across England are routinely offering the treatment. As Mr Howieson himself declares, GPs in those areas that have adopted the Helica know that they can refer patients straightaway; but he knows of GPs who have “never” referred anyone, a development he insists is “statistically impossible”.

Granted, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has asserted that, though the process is safe, further research is needed before its use can be supported as standard. And, without approval from NICE, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists cannot recommend LHA.

We can only imagine, however, that both Mr Howieson and Dr Hawthorn would wish to see as many women as possible being given access to their treatment. With this in mind, we would urge those health boards not offering the procedure to examine the reasons why they are unable to do so and perhaps look to remedy the situation. Scotland has a distinguished history of pioneering advances in medicine. The least we should surely be able to expect is that people here are given every chance to benefit from them.

THE history of medical science has numerous examples of instruments or treatments that were originally conceived to help one condition but which ended up providing a breakthrough for another.

That is along the lines of what happened with the Helica Thermal Coagulator, which was created by Edinburgh engineer Maurice Howieson in 1993 as a means of stopping internal bleeding.

Following trials conducted in Glasgow, it was discovered that the instrument could also be used to treat endometriosis, a painful and distressing gynaecological disorder that afflicts mainly young women and can lead to infertility.

Before the advent of the laparoscopic helium ablation (LHA) procedure, there were few effective treatments, and the statistics around the operation speak for themselves. One study: 71 per cent of patients had their symptoms reversed after three months, though more research is needed.