Labrador Retriever Detects Early Bowel Cancer In Japan

A Labrador retriever has sniffed out bowel cancer in breath and stool samples during a study in Japan.  The research which was taken from journal Gut, showed the dog was able to identify early stages of the disease.

It has already been suggested that dogs can use their noses to detect skin, bladder, lung, ovarian and breast cancers. Cancer Research UK said it would be extremely difficult to use dogs for routine cancer testing.  The biology of a tumour is thought to include a distinct smell and a series of studies have used dogs to try to detect it.

The researchers at Kyushu University used Marine, an eight-year-old black Labrador. She was then asked to pick from five samples, one of which was from a cancer patient and four from healthy people. In the breath tests she picked out the cancer sample 33 out of 36 times and even more successful with the stool samples, finding 37 out of 38 cancers. Even early bowel cancers were detected which is extremely difficult.  Mark Flannagan, chief executive of Beating Bowel Cancer, said: "This study looks interesting but it is for the scientists to verify whether these findings could lead to future developments for screening. The clear message is that screening saves lives and we encourage everyone eligible to take part in the existing NHS bowel cancer screening programme."