Lung cancer is only one of many possible reasons for common respiratory symptoms. Because of this, detecting lung cancer in its early stages can be difficult. The Florida Lung Doctors are among the many scientists who have reasoned that if we could specifically detect lung cancer sooner, we could improve the survival rate of this lethal disease.

From Orlando, we of the Florida Lung, Asthma & Sleep Specialists, are are happy to report some exciting new world wide research for better diagnostic tools in the detection of early stage lung cancer.  In this TWO PART blog article, NEW RESEARCH IN EARLY LUNG CANCER DETECTION, we will present three recent research studies in the area of early detection of lung Cancer in patients.

PART I.  K-9 Cancer Detectives: From Germany 

You might be wondering why this week’s photo of the week features a dog. He represents all the “Sniffer” dogs involved in recent studies for a unique  and futuristic step toward a diagnostic tool. We turn to the Schillerhoehe Hospital in Germany where researchers have proven that meticulously trained sniffer dogs can reliably detect lung cancer. The dogs exquisite sense of smell detects Volitile Organic Compounds we know exist in cancer patients’ breath.

(We call these mysterious compounds VOCs, and we might not understand exactly what they are, but our four footed friends can actually smell them.) Out of 220 volunteers, including lung cancer patients, (COPD) patients and healthy volunteers, the dogs identified 71 out of 100 lung cancer cases. More impressively, the dogs also correctly detected 372 samples that did not have lung cancer out of a possible 400.

Amazingly, the human researchers discovered that these canine “scientists” were not distracted by tobacco smoke or misled by COPD,(chronic, obstructive pulmonary disease,) and its similar symptoms.

Although difficult to utilize in a clinically practical, patient oriented sense, Florida Lung Doctors feel the findings with these dogs confirm something more important: a stable marker for lung cancer that is independent of COPD and detectable in spite  of tobacco smoke, food odors and drugs.

Head of the research, Thorsten Walles from Schillerhoehe Hospital, said: “In the breath of patients with lung cancer, there are likely to be different chemicals to normal breath samples and the dogs’ keen sense of smell can detect this difference at an early stage of the disease.He also stated,”This is a big step forward in the diagnosis of lung cancer, but we still need to precisely identify the compounds observed in the exhaled breath of patients.”

Read more about this fascinating study here. He added, and we think, with a slight smile,  It is unfortunate that dogs cannot communicate the biochemistry of cancer.”  We refer our readers to the Florida Lung Doctors’ website, to a blog article on the advancement of a diagnostic instrument. It utilizes the microscopic evidence which will duplicate this exact premise, without the use of the dogs, who remain, nonetheless, man’s best friends.

About PART II Of This Article:  Currently, our prime diagnostic tool is a low dose radiation CT. However, on April 19th,2012, at the third European Lung Cancer Conference (ELCC) in Geneva, Egbert F. Smit of Amsterdam, professor of pulmonary medicine at the VU University Medical Center, appealed to researchers for a method using less radiation.   In Part II of this article, next week the Florida Lung Doctors bring you “plain talk” about two recently developed alternative medical testing methods. For a preview, we invite you to some in depth reading: click here. From beautiful Orlando, The Florida Lung, Asthma and Sleep Specialists will keep you up to date on world-wide research, development, discoveries and procedures pertaining to your respiratory system.