This is an amazing story in the news today... Japanese researchers have trained an 8 year old black lab to sniff out colon cancer on the breath of patients. Now, our twitter friends will know that cancer research has always been a cause close to our hearts after losing loved ones over the years, but has become even more so following Dad being diagnosed with prostate cancer in December. Thankgoodness, his op was a huge success and he has been making a brilliant recovery. But this is really exciting news for us!
Dogs are already used to 'sniff out' bombs and drugs due to their amazing sense of smell, but have now been shown to be able to sniff out a number of cancers just by the patient's breath. This particular little lady, sniffed out 91% of the cancers and excluded 99% of the cancer-free samples. When given *ahem* other samples to sniff...she identified the cancers 97% of the time.
Doctors have said that it may be difficult and costly to introduce 'sniffer dogs' in replacement of colonoscopies, but this certainly is an important step forward in the fight against the big C & proof that doggies really are man's best friend.
You can read more about this story by clicking here. x x
That sure is amazing! Now that is one cute doctor
ReplyDeleteBenny & Lily
Dogs are the most amazing animals and sadly taken for granted.
ReplyDeleteThat is a wonderful development. Let's hope that the doctors train more dogs in this way for the future.
ReplyDelete