Why aren't dogs being used to check for cancer?

Question

Dogs have been shown to be highly effective in searching for cancer. So what's the hang up? My guess is that the FDA is blocking another usefull tool in fighting disease.... is that true?

Well I saw once piece on Unsolved Mysteries and another, I think on 20/20 or something like that. and the dogs were extremely accurate. Actually the first guy got lucky and his dog found it for him when the doctor couldn't find it.

Answer 1

LEFTOVERS! This is how you get stalkers, by asking questions like this. Wheres the data,source? C'mon, spit it out. hum.

Answer 2

I'm not entirely sure what you're question is, do you mean using dogs to "sniff out" cancer? First of all, I don't think that would work, as cancer is internal and I'm not exactly sure it has a specific smell. Secondly, to really diagnose and stage cancer, you have to get a biopsy of the tumor, so even if a dog could smell a cancer and let us know, we would have to do all of the normal screening exams and imaging to work up where the tumor is, what this histology or cell type is, and how extensively it has spread if at all.

I think that if anything could be proved to be useful to improve the early diagnosis and treatment of cancer, the FDA would approve it. I'm not aware of any research into dogs being used to detect cancer, so if you could include a source for that research, that would be helpful to help see if it's really a possibility.

Answer 3

Dogs are not reliable enough.

Answer 4

I LOVE CONSPIRACY THEORIES.........