A team of US researchers recently revealed that they used a dog to detect thyroid cancer in people who had not yet been diagnosed so far.

Researchers from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) had previously showed that a dog could be trained to smell the difference between urine samples of patients with and without thyroid cancer.

Therefore, researchers trained a canine named Frankie, a German shepherd. Frankie has been trained to lie down when he could smell thyroid cancer in a sample and turn away if the urine was clean.

The team, presenting their findings at the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society, said the animal had an extraordinary sense of smell. The same test was carried out in thirty-four patients, who were going to hospital for conventional testing.

As per researchers, Frankie gave the correct diagnosis in 30 out of 34 cases. They said that there were two false positives and two patients who would have been incorrectly given the all-clear.

Dr. Donald Bodenner, the chief of endocrine oncology at UAMS, said, “The capability of dogs to smell minute amounts is unbelievable. The medical community over the next few years is going to have a great appreciation”.

It has been found that the similar approach is also being followed outside of cancer and has been used to find dangerous infections such as Clostridium difficile.

Dr. Emma Smith, from Cancer Research UK, cautioned saying that although there is some evidence showing that some trained dogs can sniff out smelly molecules given off by cancers. But there have been mixed results on how accurate they are.

Cancer Research UK said they will also try to use canine-element and test for the unique pong of cancer with an ‘electronic nose’, which could lead to better diagnostic tests in the future.