False positives for cancer occur when a screening test finds something that looks like cancer, but turns out to be benign (not cancer). Some screening methods even cause more harm than good.

The more mammograms a woman has, the more likely she is to have a false positive result that will require follow up tests. Studies have shown the chances of having a false positive result after 10 yearly mammograms are about 50 to 60 percent. (See more at: http://ww5.komen.org/BreastCancer/)

In regards to prostate cancer, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends AGAINST prostate-specific antigen (PSA)-based screenings for prostate cancer. The benefits of PSA-based screening for prostate cancer do not outweigh the negatives. The high likelihood of false-positive results from a PSA test, coupled with its inability to distinguish indolent from aggressive tumors, means that a substantial number of men undergo biopsy and are over-diagnosed with and over-treated for prostate cancer.

Dogs can be trained to detect early stage cancer in humans, and research has shown that dogs are more accurate than the screening methods that are currently being used to detect cancer. Dogs have a high sensitivity and specificity, which means that dogs do not give the high false positive rates that modern day screenings give. False positives cause unnecessary biopsies, treatment, and worry.

In 2006, our study which was published in the Journal of Integrative Cancer Therapies, a medical journal, our dogs were proven at 99% sensitivity in the early detection of lung cancer, and 88% sensitive in the early detection of breast cancer. This is more accurate than a needle biopsy. (Integrative Cancer Therapies (March 2006, Vol. 5, No. 1)

Dogs can provide a low cost, non-invasive, highly accurate early detection method for cancer. Dogs can transform the practice of medicine, expanding the assessment of disease from three senses to four senses, and provide a whole new perspective for future technologic breakthroughs.