Shepherd dog type Belgian Malinois which has a sharp smell trained for one year by doctors from the Tenon Hospital Paris, France to distinguish urine from men with prostate cancer and healthy men.
Dogs are animals that have a sense of smell 100,000 times sharper than human and prostate cancer cells is believed to be issued a special smell. Jean-Nicolas Cornu lead researcher, says that dogs are able to identify the odor molecules produced by cancer cells.
In the study the dogs are able to identify correctly 63 of 66 urine samples berkanker and healthy.
Nevertheless, the experts would not rush to conclude the ability of dogs to detect cancer, given the small scale study and further research is needed to prove it.
When later shown a dog can detect accurately, experts believe this method will be more effective and accurate than blood tests to determine the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) which has been the standard examination to screen for prostate cancer.
Own a dog known for its sharp smell. This capability has long been exploited by human being, among others, to detect specific molecules, such as bombs or reveal cases of theft.
Animals do have sharper senses than humans, such as a cat that can see in the dark, elephantiasis, which is sensitive and can detect other elephant footprints tens of kilometers away, and so forth.
