I went to a talk given by the Medical Detection Dogs charity yesterday evening. They train and provide dogs for detecting traces of disease in urine samples, typically prostate cancer. It seems that for prostate cancer, the dogs are 93% accurate, versus 75% false positive with the old blood test, and half a second to check each sample versus 9 minutes per sample for an "electronic nose" device that was prototyped. They are adding more diseases to the list that their dogs can detect.
The charity also train and provide dogs to partner people (usually children) who have episodic diseases, such as type-1 diabetes. The dog constantly monitors the person's blood sugar level and raises the alarm if it gets too high or low. This completely transforms life for the family, especially in the case of a child. No more taking blood samples every hour or so, which I've always thought must be a nightmare. I remember seeing the two-and-a-half year old daughter of a colleague bravely holding out a finger to let her dad take a blood sample, and knowing I couldn't do that.
I thought it was a brilliant talk and a story worth sharing.
https://www.medicaldetectiondogs.org.uk
Man's Best Friend Just Got Better
Moderators: Gromit, Paul, slparry
Re: Man's Best Friend Just Got Better
This is a subject quite close to my heart as an ex-RAF mate of mine (who was actually on the 'Secret Life of Dogs' tv series) suffers major seizures on a regular basis. His dogs have saved his life on more than one occasion.
This piqued my interest in the whole subject of bio-detection dogs so when we were at Crufts back in March, I had a fascinating chat with one of the trainers from MDD. He said that we are only scratching the surface of what dogs are capable of. For quite some time, the medical 'community' poo-poo'd the idea of dogs being used for detection of disease (cancer and diabetes being the big 2) but thankfully they're now starting to wake up to the potential.
This piqued my interest in the whole subject of bio-detection dogs so when we were at Crufts back in March, I had a fascinating chat with one of the trainers from MDD. He said that we are only scratching the surface of what dogs are capable of. For quite some time, the medical 'community' poo-poo'd the idea of dogs being used for detection of disease (cancer and diabetes being the big 2) but thankfully they're now starting to wake up to the potential.
-
- Member
- Posts: 648
- Joined: Sun Oct 05, 2008 8:20 pm
- Location: England
- Contact:
Re: Man's Best Friend Just Got Better
He said that we are only scratching the surface of what dogs are capable of. For quite some time, [b]the medical 'community' poo-poo'd the idea of dogs being used [/b]for detection of disease (cancer and diabetes being the big 2) but thankfully they're now starting to wake up to the potential.
Really ,
Really ,
Re: Man's Best Friend Just Got Better
andy griff wrote:He said that we are only scratching the surface of what dogs are capable of. For quite some time, [b]the medical 'community' poo-poo'd the idea of dogs being used [/b]for detection of disease (cancer and diabetes being the big 2) but thankfully they're now starting to wake up to the potential.
Really ,
Yes, really - nothing that one should really be 'lol-ing' about either, sadly.
A tv documentary shown several years ago (probably Horizon or some such) went into how dogs had been shown to display acute awareness of changes in their owners' scent. There were several examples of people whose lives had been saved by early diagnosis of serious conditions (the 'Big C' being one) but the whole concept was dismissed by those who clearly had a vested interest (drugs companies?) in keeping to 'tried and tested' methods.
A sample of 30 people was picked - 15 of whom had been diagnosed with cancer, 15 who were clear. The dogs detected 17 positives, 13 negatives. The results were declared 'inconclusive' and 'inconsistent'. There were obviously 2 people who were in the clear - people who the dogs picked wrongly. Several months later, those 2 people were found to be suffering the early stages of cancer.
Food for thought.
-
- Member
- Posts: 3619
- Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2005 4:35 am
- Location: North East
Re: Man's Best Friend Just Got Better
Also know of a cat which wouldn't go near its owner when he had cancer. I don't know if this was before diagnosis but I think there must be something in it
'15 R1200GS TE
'06 R1200S
'04 BCR
Yam SR 500 long term restoration
wanna win the lottery and ride my bike
'06 R1200S
'04 BCR
Yam SR 500 long term restoration
wanna win the lottery and ride my bike
Re: Man's Best Friend Just Got Better
Gromit, I think it could be the poo poo that Andy was joking over, i.e. dog sh*t and not the subject matter.
Yonks ago there was a newspaper article (maybe That's Life on tv) where the dog kept smelling the owners leg. Nothing wrong with the leg but the dog kept at it.
Eventually the owner had a check up and the dog was right to be concerned.
Anyone else remember that?
Yonks ago there was a newspaper article (maybe That's Life on tv) where the dog kept smelling the owners leg. Nothing wrong with the leg but the dog kept at it.
Eventually the owner had a check up and the dog was right to be concerned.
Anyone else remember that?
Re: Man's Best Friend Just Got Better
Yes, I remember that one, Neil. If I remember correctly from the talk, the woman who founded MDD was alerted to get checked for breast cancel by her dog, although it was not a trained detector. Her dog was also correct.
Re: Man's Best Friend Just Got Better
Neil178 wrote:Gromit, I think it could be the poo poo that Andy was joking over, i.e. dog sh*t and not the subject matter.
You're probably right - it's just a subject which is quite close to home, and one I'm a tad sensitive about I guess. Apologies if I got slightly defensive.
-
- Member
- Posts: 648
- Joined: Sun Oct 05, 2008 8:20 pm
- Location: England
- Contact:
Re: Man's Best Friend Just Got Better
Neil178 is correct, no offence taken
Re: Man's Best Friend Just Got Better
Beers all round guys. Kiss and make up.
Hey I said make up, not make out.
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 32 guests