Cancer Detecting Dogs

Thank you Inda.

I have read about the ability of dogs being able to detect cancer; even though they cannot talk, it seems dogs might be able to tell us quite a bit about our health and wellbeing.

Here is a website with more information about this

http://www.sciencedaily.com/re...01/060106002944.htm#



...Other scientific studies have documented the abilities of dogs to identify chemicals that are diluted as low as parts per trillion. The clinical implications of canine olfaction first came to light in the case report of a dog alerting its owner to the presence of a melanoma by constantly sniffing the skin lesion. Subsequent studies published in major medical journals confirmed the ability of trained dogs to detect both melanomas and bladder cancers. The new study, led by Michael McCulloch of the Pine Street Foundation in San Anselmo, California, and Tadeusz Jezierski of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Genetics and Animal Breeding, is the first to test whether dogs can detect cancers only by sniffing the exhaled breath of cancer patients...

Thank you for the post.

It is amazing what knowledge animals have; if only they could talk.

Sincerely,
Gisele

Thank you Inda.

I have read about this as well. I found another website that has quite a lot of information on this topic:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories...tes/main665263.shtml

Somerville says that, in at least one case, a dog detected cancer that had been missed by a doctor. "One of the three breast cancers, which we've had picked up by dogs, turned out to be a very, very small focus of malignancy, undetectable unless screened. And this was removed, and the dog immediately lost interest," says Somerville. "But three months later, it began sniffing, snuffling and becoming agitated again when sitting on her lap. So, she shot back to the hospital, and lo and behold, they had missed a tiny bit of cancer."

Thank you for the information.

They have done studies in England with dogs detecting cancer for a few years now. Dogs have been accurate in detecting cancer of the breast, bladder, lungs, melanoma and a few other cancerous lesions in quite a high percentage of the time.

Gisele is right, if only they could speak.

Love,
Sue

Thank you for your replies and additional information.

Here is a bit more on the same subject

http://news.nationalgeographic...0112_dog_cancer.html



Dogs can detect if someone has cancer just by sniffing the person's breath, a new study shows.

Ordinary household dogs with only a few weeks of basic "puppy training" learned to accurately distinguish between breath samples of lung- and breast-cancer patients and healthy subjects.

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"Our study provides compelling evidence that cancers hidden beneath the skin can be detected simply by [dogs] examining the odors of a person's breath," said Michael McCulloch, who led the research.

Early detection of cancers greatly improves a patient's survival chances, and researchers hope that man's best friend, the dog, can become an important tool in early screening.

The new study, slated to appear in the March issue of the journal Integrative Cancer Therapies, was conducted by the Pine Street Foundation, a cancer research organization in San Anselmo, California.

Research has shown that malignant tissues release chemicals that are different from normal tissue, and “it’s not surprising that dogs can recognize these differences,” says Ted Gansler, MD, MBA, director of medical content for the American Cancer Society.

In multiple studies, dogs have been “intriguingly accurate” at detecting certain cancers by smelling breath or urine samples, Gansler says. The latest research, published in 2011 in the journal Gut showed a Labrador retriever trained in cancer scent detection correctly identified 91% of breath samples and 97% of stool samples from patients with colon cancer.

Still, Gansler and others say much more research is needed on this -- so don't expect your dog to check your cancer risk. You need real cancer screening, regardless of your pet's behavior.

 

http://pets.webmd.com/features/pets-amazing-abilities