Did you know that dogs have the ability to accurately sniff out certain types of cancer?

According to an article in Science Daily, scientists believe that chemical compounds created by certain cancers circulate in the body, and are expelled from the body through odors in the breath and stool, among other things. [1]

Recently, a study was conducted in which a specially trained labrador retriever performed over seventy sniff tests over the course of several months. Each test had five breath or stool samples from five different patients and volunteers. All of the samples were from patients and volunteers with varying stages of bowel cancer and bowel polyps, some malignant and some benign. The dog was able to accurately identify which samples were cancerous and which were not. In fact, when it came to detecting the cancer in the breath samples, the dogs were 95% accurate overall. With the stool samples, the dogs had an accuracy rate of 98%. [1]

This is amazing news for the medical world. Although dogs will not be used in day-to-day cancer detection, this amazing discovery does mean that certain odors given off by certain cancers in the body can be detected with sensors that work much like that of a highly trained dog’s nose. [1]

It is always exciting to hear news like this. When man’s best friend can include “man’s lifesaver” on its resume, we all benefit.

If you would like to learn about the cancer study in its entirety, please read the article Dogs Can Accurately Sniff out Early Stage Bowel Cancer.

Source:

1. Dogs Can Accurately Sniff out Early Stage Bowel Cancer. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110131194319.htm

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