New research that has found dogs’ noses can detect prostate cancer including in its most deadly form looks set to potentially save thousands of lives. The cancer, which is largely asymptomatic in its early stages, is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the UK and kills around 11,500 men each year.
The revolutionary research from a multi-national, cross-disciplinary team of scientists from Medical Detection Dogs (MDD) in the UK, the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Johns Hopkins University – and a friendly pair of specially trained cancer-sniffing dogs at MDD – has scientifically validated that a dog’s nose may hold the key to prostate cancer detection: a more accurate, non-invasive early diagnostic tool able to differentiate between potentially lethal high Gleason Grade cancers and low-grade, less dangerous cancers.