Because it is expected that most of the people reading this blog will not have scientific or medical training, Expert Voices will use language that is accessible for all readers but still medically and scientifically accurate and credible.
Below is an excerpt from the latest posting:
Is Cancer Screening Going to the Dogs?
There's been a lot of news lately about cancer-sniffing dogs after a new study by Japanese researcher Hideto Sonoda and his colleagues was published in the medical journal Gut. So we couldn't help but wonder, is that possible?
If you haven't heard about it, the recent study suggests that specially-trained dogs can identify the scent of volatile chemicals (those that evaporate into the air at room temperature) present in colon cancer.
In the study, a Labrador sniffed breath samples and stool samples from patients who were known to have colon cancer, which had been identified by colonoscopy and biopsy. The dog correctly recognized cancer-related scents in 91% of the breath samples and 97% of the stool samples. And amazingly, when the dog was allowed to sniff breath and stool samples from patients who didn't have colon cancer, the dog incorrectly "diagnosed" only 1% as malignant. This study adds to a small number of other published articles showing similar results for bladder, lung, and breast cancers, and to a recent conference presentation regarding prostate cancer.
In addition to these experimental studies, there have been several anecdotal reports of patients whose pet dogs seemed attracted to or upset by skin and breast cancers.
To entire article may be found on cancer.org/expertvoices
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