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posted by CoolHand on Monday August 10 2015, @05:35PM   Printer-friendly
from the dogs-the-new-tricorder dept.

Dogs capable of sniffing out cancer have been approved for use in a trial by the NHS (in the UK). The charity Medical Detection Dogs has gained approval from Milton Keynes University Hospital for further trials, after an initial study showed specially trained dogs can detect prostate tumours in urine in 93% of cases.

It is hoped canine testing could help show up inaccuracies in the traditional Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) test, used to determine if men need a biopsy. The test has a high "false positive" rate, and many men are unnecessarily referred for the invasive procedure. Iqbal Anjum, a consultant urologist at the hospital, said the study was "an extremely exciting prospect".

He added: "Over the years there have been many anecdotal reports suggesting that dogs may be able to detect cancer based on the tumour's odour. It is assumed that volatile molecules associated with the tumour would be released into the person's urine, making samples easy to collect and test."

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/aug/08/cancer-detecting-dogs-nhs-trial-milton-keynes-prostate


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2015, @05:42PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2015, @05:42PM (#220777)

    Oh great. If a dog comes sniffing at my ass, now I have two things to worry about.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2015, @07:03PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2015, @07:03PM (#220829)

    just 1

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @09:58AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @09:58AM (#221191)
    Depends what he finds.

    Still better than a cat scan ;).