Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Health Care topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Doctors, patients and advocates urge legislature to declare Oct. 15 Lobular Breast Cancer Awareness Day
Summary
Clinicians, survivors and the Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance told the committee that invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) is underrecognized, harder to detect on standard mammography, underfunded in research and merits a no‑cost annual awareness day to spur diagnosis, research and inclusion in clinical trials (H.4625 / S.2666).
Clinicians, survivors and patient advocates urged a favorable report on House 46 25 and Senate 26 66, a proposal to designate Oct. 15 as Lobular Breast Cancer Awareness Day in Massachusetts.
Dr. Renat Jesselson, director of the Lobular Breast Cancer Program at Dana‑Farber Cancer Institute, told the committee that invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) poses unique diagnostic and treatment challenges. “ILC cancers are difficult to detect through standard mammography,” she said, adding that ILC often grows in lines rather than forming discrete lumps and “responds differently to standard therapies.” She testified that ILC receives a small fraction of breast cancer research funding despite being the second most common invasive breast cancer.
Survivors and advocates described personal experiences and gaps in care. Laurie Hutchinson, executive director of the Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance and a seven‑year ILC survivor, said she learned that many lobular tumors are missed by annual mammograms and that ILC‑specific treatments and trials are scarce. Patient Jade Moran, who lives with stage‑4 metastatic ILC, described a mammogram that missed disease she later learned spread to bones: “I had no symptoms, no lump… a false negative cost me my chance to be cured,” she said.
Why it matters: Witnesses argued that establishing a formal awareness day would be a no‑cost mechanism to keep momentum for research, clinician training and inclusion of lobular patients in trials. Radiologists and imaging directors testified that better training on ILC presentation, development of AI detection tools, and funding for lobular‑specific research and imaging protocols are needed.
Panel composition and requests: The panel included breast oncologists, breast imagers, researchers, survivors and LBCA staff. Testimony requested a favorable report and offered additional technical briefings, clinical data and educational materials for clinicians.
Committee response: Members asked technical questions about detection and the potential effect of an awareness day on research funding and clinical practice. No formal committee vote on the bills was recorded during the hearing.
