Sometime in the not-so distant future, ordering a “lab” test might entail sending the specimen to a specially trained canine to give it a thorough sniffing over.
Researchers at the
University of Pennsylvania have discovered that dogs can identify the presence of ovarian cancer before the cancer is detected by other methods.
The university recently announced that its School of Veterinary Medicine Working Dog Center is collaborating with its medical school and physics and astronomy department, as well as the Monell Chemical Senses Center to study detection of ovarian cancer using working dogs and electronic sensors.
In particular, the project will study dogs’ and e-sensors’ ability to detect odorants in tissue and blood samples that give an early indication of the presence of the cancer.
“These odorants remain a relatively untapped source for cancer detection information,” said veterinarian
Cynthia Otto, director of the Working Dog Center and associate professor of Critical Care at Penn Veterinary School in a release.
“By utilizing the acute sense of smell in detection dogs in conjunction with chemical and nanotechnology methods, we hope to develop a new system of screening for ovarian cancer using analysis of odorants to facilitate early detection and help decrease future cancer deaths,” she added.
Initially, the researchers will evaluate and compare the ability of dogs and other sensors to detect the total odorant signatures that distinguish disease from healthy samples, according to the university. Future studies will determine the most suitable tissue substrate for evaluation and will measure odor differences among various tumor grades.
Ovarian cancer is the fifth-leading cause of cancer-related death among U.S. women, the university notes. If caught early enough, the cancer has a five-year survival rate of over 90%. So far, though, there is no effective early screening method and most patients are only diagnosed after the cancer has spread to their lymph nodes.