Sec. 2. Findings
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Congress finds as follows: Cerebral cavernous malformations (referred to in this section as CCM ), also known as cavernous angioma, or cavernoma, is a devastating blood vessel disease characterized by vascular lesions that develop and grow within the brain and spinal cord. Detection of CCM lesions is achieved through costly and specialized medical imaging techniques, often not accessible or convenient to patients who need them. While CCM is a common type of vascular anomaly, many individuals are not aware they have the disease until the onset of serious clinical symptoms.
CCM is often inherited unknowingly. CCM affects an estimated 1,500,000 people in the United States. Individuals diagnosed with CCM may experience neurological deficits, seizure, stroke, or sudden death. Due to limited research, there is currently no treatment for CCM other than brain and spinal surgery, and only for certain patients. There is also a shortage of trained physicians to provide skilled and timely diagnosis and appropriate treatment for CCM. While the hereditary form of CCM may occur among any ethnicity, the presence of a mutation called the common Hispanic mutation , has passed through 17 or more generations of American descendants from the original Spanish settlers of the Southwest in the 1590s.
New Mexico has the highest population density of CCM in the world; Texas, Arizona, and Colorado also have high rates of CCM due to the common Hispanic mutation.