According to Miami urologist Dr. George Suarez, scientists in Italy say they have trained two dogs to detect prostate cancer with in excess of 90% accuracy. Using dogs to diagnose the disease could provide an alternative to the current blood test for prostate-specific antigen (PSA), which can provide false results in men who don’t have prostate cancer.
The research team collected urine samples from over 360 men who had been diagnosed with prostate cancer at different stages of the disease. They also took samples from over 400 men and 120 women who were either healthy, had a different kind of cancer, or had another health condition.
They then trained two 3-year-old female German shepherds to sniff out specific organic compounds in urine that are associated with prostate cancer. Both of the dogs had previously been trained in bomb detection work with the armed forces.
After the dogs were trained, they were tested using batches of 6 urine samples from the men who had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, positioned at random among those from others. One dog correctly identified all of the prostate cancer urine samples and misidentified only 1.3% of the non-prostate cancer samples.
The second dog correctly identified over 98% of the prostate cancer urine samples and misidentified only 3.6% of the non-prostate cancer samples.
The researchers say the study demonstrates that a thoroughly trained dog could sniff out prostate cancer samples with very high levels of accuracy. But they say that more tests are required to determine how well the dogs perform when faced with urine samples collected from men who are being examined for possible prostate cancer.
According to your Miami urologist, the traditional PSA test – although valuable -falsely finds cancer in 3 out of 4 cases. This indicates that 75% of men who take the PSA test and receive a result of “cancer” have to take more tests to find out they don’t have it.
Moreover, the detection dogs provide an option that yields consistently accurate results. If the detection dogs were actually a machine, there would be huge demand for them. Dogs can pick up a scent in a dilution of one to a thousand parts. Their superior smelling power is well documented.
If you would like to be tested for prostate cancer – don’t wait another minute – call the office of best Miami urologist Dr. George Suarez today to schedule a confidential consultation.
