Dr Guy Fisher Contributing to National Endometriosis Ultrasound Workshop
Dr Guy Fisher will contribute as an Expert Fellow to the Ultrasound Scanning for Endometriosis Workshop, held on Sunday 14 June 2026 as a pre-conference workshop ahead of the RANZCOG Aotearoa New Zealand Annual Scientific Meeting in Auckland.
The workshop is led by Alison Deslandes, an internationally recognised specialist gynaecological sonographer and researcher, and is designed to upskill RANZCOG Fellows, trainees, and other health practitioners in the use of pelvic ultrasound for endometriosis diagnosis. The workshop includes live scanning demonstrations, imaging-surgery correlation, and — for Part 2 — guided scanning practice with volunteer patients. Part 2 is already fully subscribed.
Accurate non-surgical diagnosis changes what surgery is for. When endometriosis can be confirmed, mapped, and explained to a patient through specialist ultrasound, diagnostic laparoscopy becomes unnecessary — and surgery's only remaining purpose is therapeutic. This matters because many patients with endometriosis do not ultimately need surgery at all. Once an accurate diagnosis is established through ultrasound, a significant proportion of patients can be managed effectively through non-surgical pathways — hormonal treatment, pain management, physiotherapy, and allied health support. Surgery is reserved for those in whom therapeutic benefit from an operation is clear, with findings already mapped and surgical planning already complete.
This approach also transforms the patient experience of diagnosis. For women who have spent years receiving normal or inconclusive ultrasound results — often from practitioners without specialist endometriosis training — a consultation with a gynaecologist who can scan, interpret, and explain findings in real time is frequently a turning point. Seeing visual evidence of their condition for the first time, and hearing a clear explanation of what it means for their management, provides a form of validation that non-specialist care has often failed to offer. That validation is not incidental — it is part of the clinical value of the encounter.
Understanding how to use the ultrasound consultation to achieve this — both technically and in terms of patient communication — is central to what the workshop addresses.
The workshop reflects a broader shift in endometriosis care toward earlier and more accurate non-surgical diagnosis. Specialist pelvic ultrasound — when performed by a clinician with advanced training — can identify deep infiltrating endometriosis, endometriomas, adenomyosis, and restricted pelvic organ mobility that standard ultrasound routinely misses. This has significant implications for reducing the diagnostic delay that affects many New Zealand women with endometriosis, which on average exceeds seven years from symptom onset to confirmed diagnosis.
Dr Fisher performs advanced pelvic ultrasound directly within consultations at his Auckland rooms at Fertility Associates, Ascot Central, Remuera.