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Faye Prior | 2014-06-19 04:44:28
Everybody is talking about the future of medical technology. The new DNA test that detects cancer, the webcam that can detect Alzheimer’s, robots that can perform surgery, and wifi enabled pills that travel through our bodies. But apparently for some aspects of disease diagnosis our next best test is sat in his bed chewing your slippers, and scientists call him man’s best friend.
My love of dogs is no secret, and I think we under appreciate their intelligence. When we think of dogs we might first think of poo bags, teeth marks on our sofa, and being licked on the face every morning. But today we have dogs that can smell improvised devices in war zones, drugs in suitcases, dogs that can put your washing in the machine and turn it on, and dogs that can predict epileptic seizures. They don’t even demand wage increases, holidays, or expenses either.. just a tennis ball.
Cancer is one of the most common diseases in the world. Everybody knows what it is, and we all know that the earlier you can detect it the better your chances of beating it are. A dogs nose is incredibly sensitive, whilst humans have around 5 million receptors in the nose, a dog has an extraordinary 200 million.
Researchers have put this advantage to use before, using dogs to smell the presence of cancer in urine samples. But it seems as though we have under estimated just how well they can do this. In new research presented in America, when trained dogs smelled 677 samples of urine, of which 350 were from prostate cancer patients, they identified the cancer containing samples with a staggering 98% accuracy.
That’s an awful lot of sniffing for the dog, but a huge advantage for doctors. Perhaps we’re sometimes too wound up in advancing technology, and maybe the future of medical diagnoses lies with our furry friends.. How long will it be before a golden retriever gets their own room at the doctors surgery?
Faye Prior (Researcher)
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