3 replies to this topic

[WreckWench]

Et cetera: Study finds dogs can accurately detect cancer in human breath samples



02/07/2006


According to a report that will be published in the March issue of Integrative Cancer Therapies, researchers in California have trained dogs to detect breast and lung cancer with great accuracy using human breath samples, Knight Ridder reports. Researchers from the San Anselmo, Calif.-based Pine Street Foundation trained two Portuguese water dogs and three Labrador Retrievers to detect cancer using the “click-and-reward method” for about three weeks. The dogs were trained to sit or lie down when they detected cancer, and when the dogs correctly identified a sample as being cancerous, “they heard a click and received a food reward.” After conducting more than 12,200 separate “dog/breath sample interactions,” the dogs were able to detect breast cancer and lung cancer with 88% and 99% accuracy, respectively. Although the researchers say they know “very little” about the chemicals dogs smell that indicate cancer, their findings underscore the importance of more research to help explore the technique as a way of “allow[ing] for early detection of cancer” (Goldston, Knight Ridder/Boston Globe, 2/6).

[Dive_buddy]

I knew a woman once, who had a Great Daine that kept pawing and fussing at her left side. This kept up for close to a year. Every chance he had, he would paw at, nuzzle and push at her lower left rib cage. Needless to say she was getting pretty tired of this and even started to scold and swat the dog. Then one day he pawed at her again, only this time he managed to scratch her. She slapped him hard for it. The dog lowered his head and then raised it hard into her ribs, knocking her to the ground. She had thought he had cracked or broken her ribs and went in for x-rays. The x-rays showed that she needed 1/3 of her left lung removed due to cancer. The docotors said that had it gone untreated much longer, there would have been no treatment.

That dog saved her life. He was not pawing at random places, it was always the same spot. And he never gave up.

I have no idea how he knew, all I know is that he knew.

[annasea]

60 Minutes actually did a story on this late last year. Very interesting!

[WreckWench]

That's it...I'm getting a dog! I was engaged to one once...but that's a different story....aaarrrfffff!