Whereas inflammatory breast cancer is a rare but very aggressive type of breast cancer in which the cancer cells block the lymph vessels in the skin of the breast; (Introduced in House) HRES 395 IH
111th CONGRESS
1st Session H. RES. 395
Supporting efforts to raise awareness, improve education, and encourage research of inflammatory breast cancer . IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 4, 2009 Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
RESOLUTION Supporting efforts to raise awareness, improve education, and encourage research of inflammatory breast cancer . Whereas inflammatory breast cancer is a rare but very aggressive type of breast cancer in which the cancer cells block the lymph vessels in the skin of the breast ; Whereas inflammatory breast cancer accounts for between 1 and 6 percent of all breast cancer cases in the United States; Whereas inflammatory breast cancer is more common than acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children; Whereas inflammatory breast cancer may have environmental causes; Whereas inflammatory breast cancer is particularly difficult to detect because the early signs of breast cancer , such as a breast lump or suspicious area on a routine screening mammogram, are rarely present in inflammatory breast cancer ; Whereas inflammatory breast cancer tends to affect women at a younger age than most breast cancers; Whereas black women are more likely to have inflammatory breast cancer than white women; Whereas inflammatory breast cancer is more likely to have metastasised at the time of diagnosis than noninflammatory breast cancer cases; Whereas the 5 year survival rate for patients with inflammatory breast cancer is between 25 and 50 percent, which is significantly lower than the survival rate for patients with noninflammatory breast cancer ; Whereas the incidence rate for inflammatory breast cancer is on the rise, and the cause of this increase is unknown; Whereas organizations such as the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Foundation are working to increase awareness of the disease in the public and medical communities; Whereas the MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas is among one of the only facilities in the country to have a clinic specifically dedicated to inflammatory breast cancer ; and Whereas many physicians remain unaware of inflammatory breast cancer and diagnosis is frequently delayed due to a lack of knowledge in both the lay and medical communities: Now, therefore, be it
• Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that the Federal Government has a responsibility to--
◦ (1) endeavor to raise awareness and improve education about inflammatory breast cancer ;
◦ (2) encourage the American Medical Association to take steps to immediately increase awareness of inflammatory breast cancer among physicians;
◦ (3) encourage research that will improve treatments for inflammatory breast cancer ; and
◦ (4) continue to consider ways to improve access to information on inflammatory breast cancer for both doctors and patients.
March 2007
Patti Bradfield and Senator Patty Murray (WA). Bradfield wanted to thank Senator Murray for taking the case for better education of Inflammatory Breast Cancer to the National level. Senator Murray put IBC into the Congressional Record, so lawmakers would know that IBC is under-studied, under-reported and and because of being misdiagnosed in too many cases, cutting short the lives of too many women.
