You might be surprised to hear that there are dogs that can detect cancer. Some dogs can even detect cancer with greater accuracy than can sophisticated medical equipment. This was first tested with lung cancer. Dogs who detect cancer do so via breath samples, and there is a connection between breath and lung cancer obviously.
Actually, dogs are ninety-nine percent accurate in detecting lung cancer in this way. They also can detect breast cancer at eighty-eight percent. The next cancer that researchers are trying to see if dogs can detect will be ovarian cancer.
You have to train the dogs to do this first. The dogs are trained by putting breath samples into identical boxes. The boxes are weighted down with concrete slabs so the dogs don't knock the boxes over.
Who thought up this unusual means for testing? Michael McCulloch is the researcher currently working on this project. He's with the Pine Street Foundation, and is conducting the experiments in partnership with the University of Maine. He has tested four different dogs, and each had to accurately identify a correct sample thirty times.
Why would scientists bother with dogs for cancer detection? Survival rates for ovarian cancer aren't the best - about five years. Catching this cancer early is the key to better survival chances. Unfortunately, it usually has few symptoms until it progresses to a stage that is difficult to treat.
Sometimes medical tests can detect this cancer early enough, but this is not always the case. The earlier this cancer is caught the better, so if dogs can detect it quickly this helps patients be successfully treated.
Ovarian cancer is not the only cancer that is best caught early of course. Lung cancer also responds to treatment better if caught early. Some types of breast cancers can be aggressive and grow quickly. These are hard to treat once they are advanced. Mammmography helps us find breast cancer earlier than we would with a self-exam, but dogs may be able to find the cancers even before that point.
Don't fall for hype of herbal remedies or cures for cancer, these don't actually exist. There may be herbs that can help you, and can be used together with traditional treatment, but you need to discuss this with your doctor. Always tell your oncologist and doctor what herbs you are considering before you start taking them, because some herbs can interact with chemotherapy. - 15440
Actually, dogs are ninety-nine percent accurate in detecting lung cancer in this way. They also can detect breast cancer at eighty-eight percent. The next cancer that researchers are trying to see if dogs can detect will be ovarian cancer.
You have to train the dogs to do this first. The dogs are trained by putting breath samples into identical boxes. The boxes are weighted down with concrete slabs so the dogs don't knock the boxes over.
Who thought up this unusual means for testing? Michael McCulloch is the researcher currently working on this project. He's with the Pine Street Foundation, and is conducting the experiments in partnership with the University of Maine. He has tested four different dogs, and each had to accurately identify a correct sample thirty times.
Why would scientists bother with dogs for cancer detection? Survival rates for ovarian cancer aren't the best - about five years. Catching this cancer early is the key to better survival chances. Unfortunately, it usually has few symptoms until it progresses to a stage that is difficult to treat.
Sometimes medical tests can detect this cancer early enough, but this is not always the case. The earlier this cancer is caught the better, so if dogs can detect it quickly this helps patients be successfully treated.
Ovarian cancer is not the only cancer that is best caught early of course. Lung cancer also responds to treatment better if caught early. Some types of breast cancers can be aggressive and grow quickly. These are hard to treat once they are advanced. Mammmography helps us find breast cancer earlier than we would with a self-exam, but dogs may be able to find the cancers even before that point.
Don't fall for hype of herbal remedies or cures for cancer, these don't actually exist. There may be herbs that can help you, and can be used together with traditional treatment, but you need to discuss this with your doctor. Always tell your oncologist and doctor what herbs you are considering before you start taking them, because some herbs can interact with chemotherapy. - 15440
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