Dogs prove again just how remarkable they are and how much help they can be to humans. From Health Central.com:
British researchers say they've taught dogs to sniff out the scent of bladder cancer in urine, a feat that might someday lead to better diagnostic technology.The work was inspired by several reports that have appeared in medical journals and the popular press about dogs picking up distinctive smells associated with cancer, said Caroline M. Willis, director of research at the Amersham Hospital department of dermatology. One item that especially aroused interest was a report of a woman who sought medical help after her dog became unusually interested in a skin lesion that proved to be malignant melanoma.
The Amersham study began in a somewhat unscientific way, enlisting six dogs that were pets of hospital staffers. The dogs included three spaniels, who turned out to be the best sniffers; they are widely used to detect illicit drugs, Willis said...
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..."Then we went much further, training the dogs to recognize the specific smell of cancer, not just one associated with secondary effects such as inflammation," Willis said. "Then we ran this series of tests designed to rigorously prove that they were detecting a specific kind of cancer."The result was an overall success rate of 41 percent, with 22 successes in 54 tries. It is "a first, very tentative step into the whole area" of cancer detection by smell, Willis said.
The research effort now has turned to skin cancer, Willis said. "But we haven't quite finalized how we would do that. We can't present the dogs with fresh tissue, so we have to find ways to capture the smell," she said.
Willis does not foresee a role for dogs in cancer diagnosis. "Where dogs can be helpful is to help identify specific chemicals that are characteristic of bladder cancer," she said. "We may be able to use that information to develop instrumentation to identify cancers."