Is it possible to detect lung cancer by trained dogs?

Abstract

During the illness are released volatile organic compounds with specific smell which could have in diagnosis of diseases. The first aim of the study was qualitative and quantitative analysis of exhaled breath samples obtained from patients with lung cancer, healthy volunteers and people with other lung diseases by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. This study showed that twenty compounds propane, ethanol, isobutane, butane, propanal, 1-propanol, 2-propanol, 2-methylfuran, 2-butanone, benzene, 2-pentanone, pentanal, hexanal, cyclohexanone, 4-heptanone, 2,4-dimethylheptane, 2,3,4-trimethylhexane, 2,3,5-trimethylhexane, 4-methyloctane, α-pinene separated two research groups of patients and healthy controls. The second goal was to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of canine scent detection using 5 station scent lineup. Among lung cancer patients and complementary samples, overall sensitivity of canine scent detection was 85.54%, while specificity was 71.84%.