Daisy is an 8-year-old Labrador Retriever trained by the Psychologist Dr Claire Guest to detect cancer by smelling the volatile organic compounds (VOC) exuded by cancer cells from samples of urine, tissues or simply a patient's breath. Dog medical detection is gaining space in mainstream media and scientific publications thanks to the significant outcomes of the research conducted by Dr. Hideto Sonoda at Kyushu University, and German researchers of the Schillerhoehe Hospital of Gerlingen as well as studies conducted in the Pine Street Clinic in San Anselmo, California.
medicaldetectiondogs.org.uk
In 2009, Daisy, was a dog in training to be able to recognize signs of cancer. She was certainly acquiring the skills necessary to do this, as she was able to identify a threat to her owner's health. Daisy communicated her concern not only by exhibiting an anxious behavior, but also by jumping on and hitting her trainer's chest with her nose. A biopsy confirmed the diagnosis, and today, after a successful treatment, and as the head of the charity Medical Detection Dogs, Dr Guest assures that her life was saved by Daisy's early cancer detection skills, which gave her a big advantage in wining the fight against this disease.
Both Dr Guest and her dog continue to work in researching complex and potentially fatal medical conditions the dogs could help detect or manage. Like Daisy, numerous dogs are being trained to detect, among others, signs of cancer, hypertension, heart attack, allergic reactions, and seizures caused by epilepsy and diabetes.
