Saturday, February 26, 2011
(photo: Andobas)
Researchers in Japan have demonstrated that dogs can not only sniff out cancer in patients, but also determine the particular kind a person has.
At Kyushu University, Yoshihiko Maehara and colleagues trained a Labrador retriever named Marine by exposing it to the breaths of healthy people and patients with confirmed colorectal cancer. Marine also was trained to compare stool samples taken from patients and the control group.
When asked to determine if a patient had colon cancer, Marine would lay down on the floor to signal the presence of cancer—which she did with 91% accuracy—by only smelling patients’ breath. When she was given the stool samples too, her accuracy increased to 97%.
Current technology used to diagnose the presence of colon cancer is only 70% accurate.
Meanwhile, a scientist at the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute based in Israel has developed a device that would allow humans to sniff out cancer by using an “electronic nose” that can detect the organic compounds that give away the presence of the disease.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Another Dog Sniffs Cancer – So Why Aren’t There Dogs In The Clinic? (by Peter Murray, Singularity Hub)
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