Japanese town turn to dogs for help in detecting cancer signs
The northeastern Japanese town of Kaneyama, with 6,000 residents, is taking part in a research program where dogs are being trained to sniff out signs of cancer.
Kaneyama has Japan’s highest fatality rates stemming from stomach cancer, according to local reports.
Frozen urine samples from the residents are sent to the Nippon Medical School, just east of Tokyo, where dogs are trained to detect signs of the disease.
Dogs have some 300 million sensors in their nose, compared to five million in a human. They also have a second smelling device in the back of their noses, the combination of which allows trained dogs to detect cancerous tumors — which is said to give out a specific odor.
Professor Miyashita of the Nippon Medical School shared that the cancer detection dogs in the research program have been able to find signs of cancer with almost 1000% accuracy.
There are only five dogs trained to work as cancer detection dogs in Japan, according to a training facility in the country. It costs about US$45,000 to train each dog.
Cancer sniffing dogs are not unique to Japan.
In the UK, a major trial was conducted last year at Medical Detection Dogs, where dogs were taught to sniff out prostate cancer from urine samples. The group claimed to have a 93% success rate.
In a training session, dogs are taken around a room with different samples — only one sample will contain cancer cells.
When the dogs detect the smell, they are trained to sit down in front of the sample and touch it with their nose.
Claire Guest, founder of the Medical Detection Dogs, said in an interview that researchers are now understanding the huge potential dogs have which, she thinks, is absolutely huge.
