A number of dogs are undergoing training to get skills of
detecting cancers. The most recent type of cancer to be detected by sniffer
dogs is bladder cancer
In 2001, a Labrador retriever sniffed out bowel cancer in breath and stool samples
during a study in Japan. The observation was however taken lightly
assuming that it was just an isolated case.
In 2004, the Medical Detection Dogs a charity that works with
researchers, NHS Trusts and universities to train specialist dogs to detect the
odour of human disease was established. The consortium was formed after a
letter from Dr John Church to medical journal. The Lancet claimed dogs could
detect bladder cancer. According to Dr Guest the chief executive of the Medical
Detection Dogs, stories of dogs finding their owners' cancer had been reported
for a while. They started to wonder that if dogs were finding it by chance then
perhaps they could actually train dogs to do this reliably.
In 2012, a woman discovered she had a
cancerous tumour in her breast after her dog started sniffing and pawing at it.
Sharon Rawlinson ignored her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel for months, but went
for tests after Penny stepped on her chest, causing pain. Mrs Rawlinson, from
Newark, then examined herself and found a lump.
Recently, Medical Detection Dogs chief executive Dr Claire Guest
was training dogs to detect other cancers, when she said one of them warned her.
She was subsequently found to have an early stage breast tumour. Nowadays, Dr
Guest trains dogs to recognise the cancer from a breath sample, hoping that an
electronic nose can be developed.
The Medical Detection Dogs charity started to work with dogs and can now
accurately pick out cancer samples from control samples, but research has been
mainly limited to bladder and prostate cancer.
Other cancers have been brought on board for detection including; breast
cancer from a breath tube. This was after the dog Dr Guest was training to
detect other cancers started to warn her. "I was a bit bemused as to what
she was doing, but I was subsequently found to have a very early stage breast
tumour," she said.
"It was very deep and had my dog Daisy not warned me, I was told it
could have been very serious and life-threatening because by the time I felt
the lump it would have been very advanced."
Now in remission, the scientist has joined forces with her surgeon and
other cancer specialists to search for the clinical proof that breast cancer
can be "sniffed out". In particular, they are looking to see if dogs
can recognise it accurately and reliably from a breath test.
"There is a huge amount of potential for this work, not only in
finding out where cancer is present but also in the development of an
electronic nose in the future," said Dr Guest.
"A dog is in fact a very, very specialist pattern recognition
bi-sensor - but he has got a waggy tail. "He can tell us when
something is there and when it's not and how quickly it disappears [when a
sample is in contact with the air] and they can tell us how difficult it is to
find.
"If we can find out
how the dog is doing it then we can make machines in the future that could
screen our breath and our urine for cancer volatiles.
This research is at a very early stage and the next step will be
a clinical trial with samples from local hospitals. "We need to find out
how reliably dogs can indicate this and also if they can reliably indicate
early grade and stage, because that would be the key for survival," said
Dr Guest.
The hope is this
research "has the potential to save thousands of lives".
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