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Loading...Dog Sniffs Out Cancer
- Megan Zehnder
- February 7, 2011
- 3:38 pm
- 81 comments
Does a dog’s nose know best? Recent research suggests yes! In a Japanese study conducted last month, a trained canine successfully detected early signs of bowel cancer in more than 9 out of 10 cases. Previous studies have yielded similar results with dogs sniffing out prostate, skin, bladder and lung cancer.
The latest study, reported in the journal Gut, involved breath and stool samples from people with bowel cancer. Marine, an 8-year-old Labrador, was presented with five samples, one with cancer cells and the other four without. She correctly identified the cancer sample 33 out of 36 times when smelling the patients’ breath, and 37 out of 38 times when smelling the stool samples.
Researchers say it may be difficult to use dogs to find cancer in clinical practice, due to the expense and time necessary for training. However, they hope the studies will help identify cancer-specific organic compounds that create the smell that dogs notice. Once that organic compound is determined, scientists could potentially create an electronic equivalent to a dog’s nose to test for early signs of cancer.
As of now, human science lags behind canines, when it comes to detecting cancer. “Only the dog knows the true answer,” says Dr. Hideto Sonoda from Kyushu University to a BBC reporter. “The specific cancer scent indeed exists, but the chemical compounds are not clear.”
More on the power of animal sniffing:
Rats Who Save Lives
Dogs Sniffing Out Bed Bugs
Megan Zehnder
Megan is an editor and producer for Care2's Healthy Living. Her main priorities are to live simply and build meaningful relationships with the people in her life. She loves to write and talk about environmental issues, healthy living, and women's rights. Beyond that, her interests change daily, but eating and cooking vegetarian food is always a favorite.
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may
not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.
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81 comments
+ add your ownyet an other reason why we all need animals in are lives
Thank you Megan, for Sharing this!
I heard about this some time ago and I think it is incredible!
Indeed animals have a special knowledge of death. In a nursing home I was visiting there was a cat, unfriendly until it 'diagnosed' a forth coming death of a patient. This cat would only go into a room and stay for a time in the last 24 hours of a patient's life. Remarkable. The nurses would tell the staff which room the cat had been in and they then knew 'who was next'. Astounding.
Then, when my mother was dying, the hospice had a golden retriever that wondered the wards visiting only the very ill. I didnt understand the language of the staff saying - you can stay with your mother tonight, we can put a bed in next to her for you. The dog had visited several times that day, but I was prevented from staying with mum by a bossy relative. Of course she passed away that night. How I regret not being with her - it would have been no effort on my part. Though I do think the staff should have been clearer. I cant ever forget these two incidents.
noted
If I recollect from an article I read a number of years ago that dogs can detect over 1,200 different scents in one breath and anaylze each one into a certain perspective of okay, not okay, do or not do, etc. Much to be learned about animals. They are great teachers.
Yes, I have known about this for some time.
Dogs are simply a blessing!!!
Os cães.
Very interesting....a dogs nose knows :)
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