Study shows dogs can accurately sniff out cancer in blood

Dogs have smell receptors 10,000 times more accurate than humans', making them highly sensitive to odors we can't perceive. A new study has shown that dogs can use their highly evolved sense of smell to pick out blood samples from people with cancer with almost 97 percent accuracy. The results could lead to new cancer-screening approaches that are inexpensive and accurate without being invasive.

We all know that there is no cure for cancer just yet, and possibly in the future, there will be. With the help of man's best friend, dogs are being used to detect cancer in patients by smelling the patient's breath. Early detection could potentially save thousands of lives and change how dogs can test early detection in the sick can be tested.

Research specialists at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology are researching and testing this way of detecting cancer by using a clicker training technique to teach four beagles to distinguish between normal blood serum and samples from patients with malignant lung cancer. The beagles correctly identified lung cancer samples 96.7 percent of the time and normal samples 97.5 percent.

Their work is very inspiring; it paves the way for further research along two paths, both of which could lead to a new cancer-detection tool. One way of testing using canine scent detection as a screening method for cancers and the other would be to determine and then design cancer-screening tests based on those compounds.

BioScentDx plans to use canine scent detection to develop a non-invasive screening for cancer and other life-threatening diseases. The company launched a breast cancer study in November in which participants donate samples of their breath for screening by trained cancer-sniffing dogs. The researchers also plan to separate the samples into their chemical components and present them to the dogs to isolate the substances causing the odor that the dog detects.

I wish that my mom, who has passed away from cancer, would have known about this study since she had a dog. The dog wouldn't leave her side, and she always thought that Barkley was being cute and wanted her attention all the time. He would sit with her while my mom watched television, and when she made dinner, Barkley would be by her feet in the kitchen. She always had that dog with her. When she was outside in the garden, the dog was on a leash, but he would stretch it out as far as he could to close.

After going through this information and knowing what I know now, I could kick myself and not picking up the dog's actions top my mom. She was diagnosed too late, and her body was full of cancer. She was ill and taking handfuls of medication to function. That dog of hers knew she was sick before anyone else, even the doctors.

My mom had gone many times to the doctor, and everyone thought it was her diabetes and didn't question anything else being wrong. She was a strong and stubborn woman. I regret not being around enough for her and my father.

My mom's illness would drive us kids crazy. Never a straight answer from her until it was too late, and before anyone could do anything, she was gone like as if she vanished in thin air overnight. We all went to sleep; when we woke up, she was gone. That fast. It was the hardest to deal with, not the fact that she passed away, but the fact that my father was lost without her. He just stopped living as well. He lived without her for about four years, and then we lost him too. He passed away from a broken heart, though. He wasn't sick or anything. He just withered away after mom passed on.

Cancer is a severe disease, and I am so grateful that they found a way to detect this terrible sickness. Next, it will be seeing that magic pill that will save the lives of those who are very sick. It all comes down to these canines that smell it in the blood. It's fantastic; they're like super dogs; they need a red cape and their hair slicked back like Superman's. It's fascinating how they found this type of testing or even what made them try it out in the first place? It makes you wonder?

The researchers doing these canine testing have just opened the door for miraculous things to come. Soon, people who couldn't afford the testing and treatments will be able to. The money situation puts a hold on many people because who can not afford the tests and treatments? Doing it this way will be so much more beneficial for those who can't afford the expensive way of getting medical attention when needed; changes the way people push aside the life-threatening disease due to the cost. Not anymore. The canine cancer-screening way will knock out the enormous costs to those in need of assistance in getting treated.