Dogs trained to detect breast cancer
Image: Medical Detection Dogs
Dr Claire Guest, chief executive of Medical Detection Dogs, is leading the way for research into the detection of breast cancer through a breath sample.
When training dogs to detect other types of cancer, one of them "started to warn her", and she was subsequently found to be in the early stages of breast cancer.
Now in remission, she is training dogs to detect the cancer from a breath sample, in the hope that the research will pave the way for an electronic nose.
Medical Detection Dogs started working with dogs in 2004, aiming to train them to reliably detect cancer. They can now pick out cancer samples from control samples, but research has so far been limited to bladder and prostate cancer.
As a result of Dr Guest's experience, dogs are now being taught to detect breast cancer from a breath tube. Scientist Dr Guest has teamed up with her surgeon and other cancer specialists, searching for clinical evidence that breast cancer can be "sniffed out".
"There is a huge amount of potential for this work, not only in finding out where cancer is present but also in the development of an electronic nose in the future," said Dr Guest.
"If we can find out how the dog is doing it then we can make machines in the future that could screen our breath and our urine for cancer volatiles."
Research is currently in the early stages, and the next step will be to conduct a clinical trial with samples from local hospitals. The aim is to investigate whether dogs can be trained to reliably detect breast cancer, and as well as indicate early grade and stage.
The latest figures from Cancer Research UK show nearly 50,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with cancer each year. It is hoped that this research "has the potential to save thousands of lives".
Click here for more information on the work of Medical Detection Dogs.
Defra has published guidance for the vet sector ahead of a proposed UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement.
