DeLauro on the Issues | Legislation
Legislation Introduced by Congresswoman DeLauro
107th Congress | 106th Congress | Search for Legislation
107th Congress
Sense of Congress Regarding Early Detection of Ovarian Cancer, H.Con. Res. 385As an ovarian cancer survivor, Congresswoman DeLauro has worked hard to help unlock the mysteries of this deadly disease. Ovarian cancer is the deadliest of the gynecologic cancers, and sadly, almost half of the women with ovarian cancer die within five years of diagnosis. If ovarian cancer is diagnosed in the early stages, the five-year survival rate increases to over 90 percent. However, because no screening test - like a mammogram - exists to accurately detect it in the early stages, only 25 percent of ovarian cancer cases are diagnosed in the early stage when it is highly curable.
Congresswoman DeLauro's cancer was found early, and she has now been cancer-free for sixteen years. She is committed to ensuring that other women have the same chance to beat this disease. That's why, along with working through her seat on the Labor-Health and Human Services-Education Appropriations Subcommittee to increase research funding, she has also introduced H.Con.Res. 385, along with Congressman Steve Israel.
In February, scientists from the Food and Drug Administration and the National Cancer Institute reported that they used serum proteins in patients' blood to detect ovarian cancer, even at its earliest stages. Using a test that can be completed in 30 minutes using blood that can be obtained from a finger stick, researchers were able to differentiate between serum samples taken from patients with ovarian cancer and those from unaffected individuals. However, this test was only a first step. Before the scientific community will agree that protein screening is both safe and accurate enough to serve as a new preventive health screening tool, additional successful multi-institutional trials need to be completed.
The Israel-DeLauro resolution expresses the sense of the Congress that the National Institutes of Health should move forward with testing on a newly discovered screening test that shows the promise of being able to detect ovarian cancer in the early stages. This resolution will help ensure that this promising screening test will quickly move from the laboratories to doctors' offices.
The resolution passed the House of Representatives on July 22, 2002. Senator Harry Ried (D-NV) hasintroduced the bill in the Senate.Ovarian Cancer Web Resources:
Ovarian Cancer National Alliance
National Ovarian Cancer Coalition
National Ovarian Cancer Association
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