Dog Sniffs Out Prostate Cancer in Small Study

The first tests of a dog's ability to detect cancer in urine specimens were held in England by Dr. Church. His ongoing study has led to the formation of Cancer and Bio Detection Dogs. They did double blind studies, so the humans were unable to signal the dog since they didn't know which samples contained cancer cells.

The interesting thing that happened was that occasionally the dogs alerted to a sample which, when tested in the laboratory, was not found to contain cancer.

But, when doctors repeated the tests 6 months later, the laboratory work found cancer. In other words, the dogs detected cancer at a stage BEFORE the lab could detect it. This has enormous implications for medicine -- if cancers are found at such an early stage there is a better chance for a cure.

The studies are described in Paws & Effect: The Healing Power of Dogs by Sharon Sakson.

Sharon Sakson of NJ 10:39PM June 01, 2010