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Canine Scent Detection of Lung and Breast Cancers: A Randomized, Double-Blinded
Diagnostic Study
Lung cancer, when symptoms arise, is usually diagnosed at Stage III
or IV, when the prognosis is rarely good. Treatment is significantly
more effective at early stages (I or II) when the tumor is smaller and
has not yet spread. Detecting lung cancer in its early stages is difficult,
so therefore developing a feasible and effective early detection method
is the subject of a considerable amount of research around the world.
In terms of breast cancer, while detection at early stages is comparatively
easier, finding methods to detect it even earlier are worthwhile.
In a large international collaboration, the Pine Street Foundation conceived
of and obtained grant support for a rigorously designed diagnostic study
aimed at accurate early detection of lung and breast cancers. We invited
scientist Professor Tadeusz Jezierski, ScD, of the Polish Academy of
Sciences, to serve as principal investigator for this study.
A dog's nose, considered by both dog trainers and chemists alike to
be one of the world's most powerful olfactory sensor, was the "medical
device" used in this research. In a study of 86 people (55 with
lung cancer and 31 with breast cancer), five professionally trained scent
dogs accurately distinguished between breath samples from diseased patients
and those from healthy controls. The dogs' ability to correctly identify
or rule-out lung cancer was better than the known detection rate using
an X-ray or CT scan.
This work is based on the observation that cancer cells emit different
metabolic waste products than normal cells. The differences between these
metabolic products are apparently so great that they can be detected
by a dog's keen sense of smell, even in the early stages of disease.
In carefully controlled conditions, the dogs were presented with breath
samples of both cancer patients and healthy controls. The dogs were trained
by professional dog behaviorist Kirk Turner and the methods used in the
field research were developed by Professor Jezierski. Not only did the
dogs perform exceptionally well, they did so consistently over a lengthy
four month investigation of 12,295 separate scent trials - each one documented
on film.
What is important about this study is that (1) the dogs appear to have
outperformed existing medical diagnostic technology and (2) they did
so consistently.
The mandate of this project was to make our methodology and results
freely available to anybody interested in this work. We are currently
submitting our results for publication in a major medical journal and
will make copies of our study available as soon as they are published.
Our long-term goal with this investigation is to develop a hand-held
electronic "breathalyzer" that would be able to identify lung
or breast cancer in its early stages before it would normally be detected
by routine imaging.
Note: None of the animals were ever harmed, either physically or
psychologically, in the course of our research on canine scent detection
of cancer; the health, safety, and happiness of all the animals involved
was always our first priority and all of our research methods were
rigorously reviewed and monitored by experienced animal behaviorists,
including those from Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael, California.
We used food reward-based positive reinforcement training, also known
as clicker training; no compulsion training methods were ever used.
This research was made possible through the generous
support of the MACH Foundation (Fairfax, CA), Guide Dogs for the
Blind (San Rafael, CA), and Frank and Carol Rosenmayr (Kentfield,
CA). Their support allowed us to invite Dr. Jezierski to work with
us for four months, from May through August of 2003, and to provide
our team of trainers and volunteers with methodical guidance and
close supervision.
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