A Dog’s Nose For Sniffing Out Signs Of Diabetes….
Can It Replace The OGTT?
posted 06/11/03

Technology based on a dog's ability to smell can detect a range of
illnesses, including diabetes, cancer and schizophrenia

SMELL is an important indicator of well- being, and has been used
as a diagnostic tool since ancient times. The Romans gave the
distinctive odor of renal failure its own term — “fetor hepaticus” —
while even today many diseases are known to have a characteristic
smell, such as a “sweet acetone breath” for diabetes, and “putrid
breath” for streptococcal throat infections.

But now this principle is being harnessed with the latest technology
to provide a sophisticated way of diagnosing disease. In one advance,
researchers at the University of Rome have designed an electronic
nose (“e-nose”) for detecting lung cancer in patients. In recent trials
at the Forlanini Hospital, the e-nose correctly identified patients with
lung cancer tumors simply by smelling their breath. The “nose” is
actually a chemical sensing system — a spectrometer — and a
computer system that matches patterns of smells. The technology
is pretty much the same whether you are detecting lung cancer or
sniffing for salmonella. Each system is “trained” to pick up certain
chemical signatures, usually a complex combination of smells. People
with lung cancer tend to exhale a mixture of alkanes and benzene
derivatives — the University of Rome e-nose has been calibrated to
pick up these chemical signatures.

The e-nose is non-invasive, quick and apparently accurate (the lung
cancer patients were diagnosed in a minute). The technology is based
on the olfactory model of dogs, known for their acute sense of smell (the
human nose is too blunt an instrument).

In a case reported in The Lancet some years ago, a dog was said to have
“discovered” a melanoma on her owner’s leg. The border collie/doberman
cross kept on sniffing and even biting the mole, so finally her owner went
to the doctor to have it looked at — a biopsy confirmed that the mole was
in fact a malignant melanoma. “This dog may have saved her owner’s life
by prompting her to seek treatment when the lesion was still at a thin and
curable stage,” wrote the researchers.

While it may not be practical to have a canine cancer-sniffer in every
dermatology clinic, the fact that melanomas and diabetes can be detected
through smell means that one day an e-nose could be adapted to do the
same job.

Professor Donald Broom, of the department of clinical veterinary medicine at
the University of Cambridge, is currently looking to test the viability of using
dogs to sniff out prostate cancer in urine samples. Again, if dogs can detect
prostate cancer, then so could an electronic nose. The advantage that
e-noses have over dogs is that they don’t get tired (sniffer dogs can suffer
from smell “burnout’’ if they are kept working on a smell for too long).
Electronic noses could be used as a diagnostic tool for other pathologies,
too, such as diabetes, liver cirrhosis and renal failure — each has its own
chemical signature.

The team at the University of Rome is also studying the correlation between
schizophrenia and skin odor. It was nearly 30 years ago that scientists first
discovered that schizophrenic patients have a specific skin odor. Now that
the technology is available, this information can be put to use.

According to Professor Corrado Di Natale, who is leading the study: “We
have been measuring axilla “armpits” odor in patients and results are
encouraging.”

He envisages the e-nose being developed to screen smokers and other
high-risk groups for lung cancer as part of a routine check-up. Of course, it
may not replace the precision offered by scans and blood tests, but it could
be a useful tool for early detection. But even at this stage — with a correct
diagnosis in one minute — the e-nose future looks promising. For information
on e-noses: www.nose-network.org.

Source: Diabetes In Control Dot Com.

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