Scratchings-and-Sniffings

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Could Miles be My Doctor? Posted: 13 Aug 2009 09:16 AM PDT Miles left for Albuquerque yesterday and we already miss him. He is such a good dog, and smart, too. I put some of my training post theories to work on him during his visit and I'm happy to report that they seem to be effective. I didn't have as much time to work with him as I would have liked but he was walking on a leash without tugging and coming when called pretty well, when he left.  We know dogs are smart and, of course, Miles is way above average, but I read something today that kind of blew my socks off. Researchers may have successfully trained dogs to detect cancer. I know that seems crazy but my reading of the article tells me that it is entirely possible. It's not that they have learned how to perform ultrasound or do biopsies, rather they have been trained to use their highly developed sense of smell to detect changes in the chemical makeup of patient's breath.   Tumors are known to produce certain chemicals like alkanes, that normal cells don't.; alkane is a type of carbon atom with certain characteristics. Methane, the gas that cows emit which contributes to both global warming and feedlot stench is an alkane. Dogs, with their keen olfactory sense, can detect the presence of specific chemicals in the parts per billion range so it is not far fetched to learn that they could detect minute amounts of specific chemicals in the breath of lung cancer patients. In fact, that is exactly what they have been trained to do.   Just like training Miles to come with praise, rewards and repetition, researchers trained dogs to detect certain smells and to sit when they did. When they were successful they were given a tasty treat.   In one study they detected lung cancer in patients with a 99% degree of accuracy. I can tell you from experience there is no laboratory test or diagnostic machine that achieves that level of accuracy especially when combined with a human operator and the attendant potential for error in interpretation.   Truly amazing. As the researchers point out, no one is going to start chemotherapy based on a canine sniff test but the results are very interesting. What if they could develop an analyzer that could pick up exactly what the dog was detecting in the breath of a cancer patient?    Anyway, it's a great story of dog helping man in the realm of health. I know that Miles helped me live in the moment when he was here. Every morning I'd wake up to his tail wagging greeting and take him out to pee. He was happy to see me and I was happy to see him. As dog owners know, that's a great recipe for staying healthy.

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