Dogs can smell lung cancer

Breath of patients provides information about lung cancer

06.12.2012

In the future, dogs could be used for the early detection of lung cancer. Due to the hitherto unknown organic compound that points to lung cancer in the air, so far failed any sensor technology. Dogs were able to sniff out tumors because of their pronounced sense of smell. The patent of the Krebsschnüffelhunde holds a company in Austria.

Fine smell senses lung cancer
A study published in August 201 already came to astonishing results: The dogs recognized lung cancer in 71 out of 100 cases. Disturbing factors such as other illnesses were irrelevant. In 372 of 400 cases, the animals also sniffed that the subjects had no cancer. Thorsten Walles, author of the study, suggests that other chemicals are contained in the breath of lung cancer patients than in healthy people. The fine sense of smell of the dogs, allows the animals to sniff these differences.

Retired police officer Wolfgang Gleichweit has been training dogs for several years to sniff out alkaline substances in the air that are produced by cancer. While he was ridiculed in 2003 for his idea, the success of his dogs is right today. Out of 54 dogs, nine remained, with whom Gleichweit still works today. In cooperation with the Austrian company „Darwin“ he registers the patent for test series.

70 percent accuracy in lung cancer
Physicians examined the accuracy of the dogs in a pilot project that could provide international recognition for cancer research. The study of 1,200 subjects from Austria, in which the dogs have to differentiate between lung cancer and other lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), began in September of this year. According to the doctors, the dogs had reached a hit rate of 70 percent. Project manager Theodor Doll could not confirm the details of dog trainer Gleichweit, according to which his dogs would even reach almost 100 percent. There is no scientific evidence for this.

The medical team hopes the pilot will provide insight into how lung cancer is sniffed by dogs to develop appropriate medical technology for the early detection of lung cancer.

For the already completed study, search dog teams from all over Austria were used. The retired police officer wants to work with his nonprofit association on their own research projects. (Sb)

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