[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 74 (Monday, June 12, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1122]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E1122]]
   INTRODUCTION OF RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING THE IMPORTANCE OF ADVANCED 
 IMAGING TECHNOLOGIES IN THE DETECTION AND TREATMENT OF PROSTATE CANCER

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, June 12, 2006

  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, in keeping with the overall theme of Men's 
Health Week, which we commemorate each year during the week leading up 
to Father's Day, I rise to introduce House Resolution 863, which is 
intended to bring to our collective attention to the need to develop 
better tools for ourselves, our fathers, husbands, brothers and friends 
in the fight against prostate cancer.
  Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in the United 
States. It is also the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in 
men, claiming around 27,000 lives in 2005 alone, according to the 
National Prostate Cancer Coalition. According to the National Cancer 
Institute, in 2005 our Nation likely saw more than 230,000 new cases of 
prostate cancer, meaning that some 2 million American men are living 
with prostate cancer at this time. Statistics tell us that prostate 
cancer will strike one in six men. We also know that African American 
men suffer disproportionately from prostate cancer, with an incidence 
rate 60 percent higher than white males and with mortality rates double 
that of white males. African American men also are 2.5 times more 
likely to die from the disease than white men. To put this into 
perspective, consider this: as the time ticks by during Men's Health 
Week, every 2-3 minutes sees a new case of prostate cancer and every 18 
minutes we lose another American to the disease.
  Faced with these statistics, we need to start getting serious about 
our diagnostic and treatment options. We must acknowledge that the 
state of prostate cancer care is decades behind what it should be. We 
need more accurate technology, more reliable weapons in the fight 
against prostate cancer--tools like digital imaging. It is alarming 
that a disease that strikes so many receives such antiquated care. And 
our men are suffering for it.
  The current screening methods of digital rectal exams and PSA blood 
tests are our best tools available--but they are not enough. There are 
many important groups that are working tirelessly in the critical 
effort to get more men to undergo screening as part of their annual 
physical exams, and I commend them for their work. Other groups have 
succeeded in focusing the attention of policymakers on the need to 
devote resources to developing better drugs for men who have been 
diagnosed with prostate cancer. I am pleased to know that progress is 
occurring on that front as well.
  However, I recently learned from a study funded by the National 
Cancer Institute, that PSA blood screening tests, the most common form 
of testing for prostate cancer, result in both false positives and 
false negatives. I am advised that this study found that as many as 15 
percent of men with normal PSA levels still have prostate cancer. Even 
with an abnormal level, many men whose doctors recommend biopsies find 
out that they do not actually have cancer, meaning that the procedure 
was only necessary because there is no accessible and affordable 
imaging alternative at this time. According to the National Cancer 
Institute, which has published interim results of a large scale 
clinical trial involving prostate cancer, results of the baseline round 
of prostate cancer screening in the trial show about 14 percent of men 
had either a positive PSA test or a positive DRE test. Of those men, 
about 12 percent were diagnosed with prostate cancer within 12 months, 
the majority with early stage disease. From these results, one can 
infer that if 12 percent of the men with positive tests using current 
detection methods did end up with prostate cancer the 88 percent who 
did not receive such a diagnosis might have been able to avoid having 
to deal with invasive biopsies and surgery to the extent that such 
procedures followed their initial positive test.

  The PSA test is apparently the best tool we have in the diagnostic 
field. Men need to continue to get tested, even with the chance that 
the results may be misleading at times.
  Although not every American has a prostate and not every American man 
will get prostate cancer, this disease affects all of us. It might be 
your family member, a favorite coworker, a beloved entertainer and or 
retired athlete, even an elected official you admire, but somehow, we 
all seem to be touched by this disease--much like breast cancer affects 
all Americans in one way or another. Americans should care about the 
fight against prostate cancer not only for health reasons, but because 
the false indicators from today's detection methods can create enormous 
emotional and psychological strain on American men and their families 
and generate substantial costs for our already overburdened medical 
system. With the ever-increasing costs of health care, both private and 
public providers need to get behind the call for more cost-effective 
and results-oriented technologies in the battle against prostate 
cancer.
  Our Resolution calls for an increased focus on developing advanced 
imaging technologies that could not only detect prostate cancer, but 
could help a physician determine what type of prostate cancer it is, 
and what treatment options were required, without once invading the 
patient's body. With imaging technologies, pinpointing treatment then 
becomes possible, allowing for minimal invasion of the patient and 
minimal discomfort, complications or costs.
  Right now in my Congressional District, Johns Hopkins University 
researchers are working on improving the early detection of prostate 
cancer, when it is most curable. I am advised that their research 
involves novel prostate imaging approaches that might be able to 
demonstrate the location of abnormal lesions so that a biopsy can be 
directed, not performed blindly. In addition, I understand that Johns 
Hopkins researchers are studying the spread of this cancer, to 
determine which prostate cancers are more aggressive and progressive 
than others, and how to tailor the treatment to the particular 
progression of that cancer. This helps physicians determine when 
treatments are effective and should be continued, and when they should 
be stopped when they lose efficacy. Johns Hopkins researchers are 
engaged in this battle against prostate cancer, and are doing their 
part through innovative research, hard work and dedication.
  We in Congress can do our part by encouraging the same level of 
cooperation that breast cancer initiatives spurred in the last decade 
of the 20th century. We need to increase our investment in the search 
for new diagnostic and treatment tools for prostate cancer, like 
creating the equivalent to digital breast imaging for the prostate. 
Both prostate cancer and breast cancer are ruthless diseases and cause 
not just physical damage but also psychological injury to their 
victims. The difference in imaging technologies, I believe, reflects 
the fact that women have over the years courageously demanded that 
medical science develop better treatment for themselves and their 
sisters-in-arms in the fight against breast cancer, while men have 
hunkered down, gritted their teeth, and failed for the most part to 
fight for more advanced prostate cancer detection and treatment.
  Prostate cancer has no such voice. Most men don't organize walks. 
Most men don't rally around pink ribbons and educate the public like 
women have over the past several years. We have much to learn from the 
women in our lives. While there are some very commendable patient 
advocacy organizations that are focused on prostate cancer which are 
doing an excellent job of getting the word out about this disease and 
its effects, there are thousands of men, suffering in silence or in a 
state of ignorance, afraid that diagnosis will lead to possible side 
effects, including impotence and incontinence. This is a disease that 
often strikes at the very heart of masculinity and men do not like to 
talk about it. We cannot afford to put our masculinity over our health, 
our pride over our future.
  American men need our help, especially African American men. They 
need a chorus of voices demanding better prostate cancer care, and they 
need it now. Men's Health Week is an opportunity for us to start this 
groundswell. This is an issue we can all get behind. We all have 
fathers, brothers, uncles, and friends. Many of us have been personally 
touched by prostate cancer. It is our voices that need to rise in 
support of those suffering in silence.
  Let us start now, and carry this message on through National Prostate 
Cancer Awareness Month in September and beyond. As Members of the House 
of Representatives, we can take advantage of our position to raise 
public awareness of the need for discourse and detection regarding 
prostate cancer. With this Resolution, we want to show that we will not 
lie down, we will not be silenced, and we will not stop until prostate 
cancer is a concern of the past. We must demand the advances in 
technology and treatment now, to protect the lives and future of 
America's sons.
  Lastly, I want thank my colleagues Congressman Burton and 
Congresswoman Christensen for joining me as the sponsors of this 
important resolution, as well as Representatives Clyburn, Payne, 
Cardin, Wynn, Waters, Meeks, Kilpatrick, Millender-McDonald, E. B. 
Johnson, Lewis (GA), Jefferson, Towns, Norton, Conyers, Meek, John 
Carter and Capps who joined us.




                          ____________________