Georgia Comprehensive Cancer Control Recommends Prostate Screening Upgrade
Dr. Scott Miller, Co-Chair of Prostate Cancer Subcommittee, urges change to help save lives and benefit Georgia’s high-risk population
May 17, 2017 (Atlanta) — As a groundbreaking surgeon on the frontline of prostate cancer treatment, Dr. Scott D. Miller knows the importance of prostate cancer screenings. Early detection of the disease, he says, can make a world of difference.
Dr. Miller stands alongside the Georgia Comprehensive Cancer Control’s (GC3) Prostate Cancer Task Force and its suggestion to recommend prostate cancer screenings to a wider group of patients. This comes in response to the recent prostate cancer screening recommendations by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPTF).
The USPTF suggests physicians conduct a C-grade level of practice by selectively offering or providing prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screenings to individual patients, ages 55-69, based on professional judgment and patient preferences. However, GC3 disagrees with this stance and recently submitted its own draft of recommendations to the USPTF.
According to Dr. Miller, who serves as co-chair of the GC3 Prostate Cancer Subcommittee, the GC3’s Prostate Cancer Task Force suggests upgrading to a B-grade level of practice regarding PSA screenings. It also suggests reducing the age from 55 to 40, at least for higher risk populations. The GC3 believes these changes would be extremely beneficial to patients.
Experts say Georgia lays claim to a large high-risk prostate cancer population. This includes African-American males, those with a family history of prostate or breast cancer, the BRCA gene, those who have been exposed to certain harmful chemicals, and men older than age 65.
“We’re concerned about the impact of the USPSTF draft recommendations on the high-risk population in our state,” Dr. Miller said. “Most cancer screenings have at least a B-level recommendation. If prostate screenings aren’t at that level, they won’t be recognized as preventive screenings by third-party payors. That could possibly add a financial burden to those at risk.”
Dr. Miller will be sharing these concerns with colleagues May 12-16 at the 112th Annual American Urological Association Meeting in Boston, Mass.
About Dr. Scott D. Miller:
Dr. Scott Miller was the first urologic laparoscopist in the state of Georgia. Specializing exclusively in laparoscopic and robotic urologic surgery, he performs approximately 300 procedures of this type annually, along with numerous robotic kidney procedures. He actively develops new surgical techniques and shares his methods and results with surgeons around the world. His most recent development is LapaRobotic Surgery™ (LapaRobotics™). The technique involves the melding of two separate but related surgical techniques–laparoscopic surgery and robotic surgery. Dr. Miller has been board-certified by the American Board of Urology since 1997. Dr. Miller has previously been selected as one of America’s Top Doctors for Cancer by Castle Connolly and recognized as a Top Doctor by Atlanta magazine since 2009.
