Our Research
Our first joint study, published in the British Medical Journal in 2004, showed for the first time that dogs can be trained to identify the odour of bladder cancer within urine. This ground-breaking finding opens the way for a new method of diagnosing bladder cancer, which would be simple, quick and non-invasive. Our research was initiated by retired orthopaedic surgeon, Dr John Church, who became interested in the subject following the publication of a case report in the Lancet in 1989. It described a woman whose pet dog showed a persistent interest in a mole on her leg, which turned out to be malignant melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer. Since then, similar anecdotal stories have been reported, involving not only skin cancer, but also bowel, cervix and breast. Cancer cells release small amounts of volatile substances not produced by normal cells, which dogs, with their exquisite sense of smell, are likely to be able to detect. Our aim is to harness this remarkable ability, so that we can learn which cancers have specific odours. This knowledge can then be used to develop new medical equipment with which to diagnose cancer quickly and simply.