Dogs have the potential to detect cancer at an early stage, which is crucial for generating positive clinical outcomes.
In this HL Shorts video, Shlomi Madar, PhD, CEO of SpotitEarly, shares how his organization trains beagles to sniff the volatile organic compounds that are secreted by cancer tumors.
Hackensack Meridian Health has entered a partnership with SpotitEarly to study the early detection of breast cancer with cancer sniffing dogs combined with artificial intelligence technology.
Early detection of cancer is critical for achieving positive clinical outcomes. With early detection, cancer can not only be treated effectively but also be cured in many cases, according to Elias Obeid, MD, MPH, medical director of the Hackensack Meridian Health Hennessy Institute for Cancer Prevention and Applied Molecular Medicine. In addition, when cancer is detected at an early stage, less aggressive therapy is effective, Obeid says.
Click on the video graphic below to get Madar's explanation of how to train dogs to sniff out cancer. Click here to read the accompanying HealthLeaders story.
Christopher Cheney is the CMO editor at HealthLeaders.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
One study has already shown that dogs combined with artificial intelligence technology can be effective in the early detection of cancer.
Training dogs to detect volatile organic compounds associated with cancer tumors is similar to training them to detect any other scent.