British researchers said Monday they have devised a test that can detect bladder cancer from certain odors in the urine.
The technique was inspired by reports about how dogs may be able to sniff out certain cancers, said researchers from the University of Liverpool and University of the West of England.
If wider studies can confirm the test's effectiveness, the technique could offer a new way to test early for a cancer that is often costly to detect and treat.
"It is thought that dogs can smell cancer, but this is obviously not a practical way for hospitals to diagnose the disease," said Norman Ratcliffe, from the Institute of Biosensor Technology at UWE Bristol.
I don't see why not. It would be practical to send the urine samples to a site where trained and proven dogs could screen large numbers of samples, either at one time, or in serial lots. Dogs are cheap compared to the average scientific analytical instrument, trust me; I've been involved in the care and feeding of both. Many tests, likely even most, are sent out of hospitals to clinical labs where the tests can be run under more standardized conditions by personnel who are well practiced at it.
"Taking this principle, however, we have developed a device that can give us a profile of the odor in urine. It reads the gases that chemicals in the urine can give off when the sample is heated."
...The new device, called ODOREADER, contains a sensor that responds to chemicals in gas emitted from urine, said the study in the US scientific journal PLoS ONE.
It analyzes the gas and reports on the chemicals contained in urine, which scientists can then read on a computer screen in order to diagnose cancer of the bladder.
"We looked at 98 samples of urine to develop the device, and tested it on 24 patient samples known to have cancer and 74 samples that have urological symptoms, but no cancer," said Probert. "The device correctly assigned 100 percent of cancer patients."
Amazing accuracy, if true. I'm skeptical it will work that well when tested in the hands of ordinary hospitals and clinical labs.
I don't see why not. It would be practical to send the urine samples to a site where trained and proven dogs could screen large numbers of samples, either at one time, or in serial lots. Dogs are cheap compared to the average scientific analytical instrument, trust me; I've been involved in the care and feeding of both. Many tests, likely even most, are sent out of hospitals to clinical labs where the tests can be run under more standardized conditions by personnel who are well practiced at it.
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