A dog can accurately detect the early presence of lung cancer by
sniffing patients’ breath, doctors in Germany say. While
researchers have known for some time that dogs can sniff out the
telltale signs of other forms of cancer, this is the first study
that proves dogs can reliably smell this particular kind.This is
a breakthrough for lung cancer researchers who have been trying
to figure out if there are specific volatile organic compounds
associated with the presence of the disease. The dog study
suggests that there are. Researchers at Schillerhoehe Hospital
in Germany worked with specially trained dogs who were asked to
smell the breath of 220 volunteers. The group included healthy
patients, as well as people with lung cancer and chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease. The dogs correctly identified 71
positive lung cancer samples out of a possible 100, the
researchers write in the European Respiratory Journal. They also
correctly identified 372 non-cancerous samples out of a possible
400. What’s interesting