Study: Dogs Can Sniff Out Lung Cancer Tumors

Scientists have found that dogs are surprisingly adept at sniffing out lung cancer.

Results of a pilot project in Austria, published last week, suggest dogs can offer "help for earlier, life-saving diagnosis."

Lung cancer is one of the most preventable cancers around - and quitting smoking, no matter how long you've smoked, will still reduce the odds.

According to an article in France24

"Dogs have no problem identifying tumour patients," said Peter Errhalt, head of the pulmonology department at Krems hospital in northern Austria, one of the authors of the study.

The test saw dogs achieve a 70-percent success rate identifying cancer from 120 breath samples, a result so "encouraging" that a two-year study 10 times larger will now take place, Errhalt said.

The results echo anecdotal evidence of odd canine behaviour when around cancer sufferers and are backed up by the results of similar small studies, including one by German scientists in 2011.