Dogs have long been assumed to be sensitive to some human diseases. And as shown in this video, lung cancer seems particularly amenable to detection through the scent of subjects' breath. A recent article by Ehmann and associates in the European Respiratory Journal reported that family dogs, trained rather easily for such detection, achieved sensitivity and specificity rates in excess of 70 and 90 percent, respectively, in differentiating cancer versus non-cancer breath specimens. While the ability of dogs to do this may be remarkable, researchers stress that the major implication of these findings is that lung cancer patients carry distinctive markers in their breath (also see Gever.)
No comments:
Post a Comment