This is not how the research was conducted.
Japanese researchers at Kyushu University have discovered that labradoodles Labradors can be trained to detect bowel cancer in human patients. No, no, the process doesn’t involve the patient getting down on all four and letting a dog sniff his butt, although since the study is Japanese I can’t blame you for thinking that.
The researchers used an 8-year-old Labrador which was specially trained to sniff out bowel cancer in breath and stool samples. In the breath tests, the dog picked the cancer sample 33 out of 36 times, while in the stool sample it got 37 out of 38. It even detected early bowel cancers, which doctors say is notoriously difficult.
Don’t get your hopes up for anything spectacular though, all they’ve got is that single dog. They are, however, working on an “electronic dog’s nose,” but since the Labrador can’t tell them what the specific cancer scents are it’s going to take a while.
