THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a first-of-its-kind initiative in the country, the Kerala Police Academy (KEPA) has pitched a proposal to train dogs in cancer detection, which, if materialised, could help spot early signs of malignancy in a non-invasive manner.

The proposal has been presented before some of the leading medical institutions in Kozhikode and Thrissur and talks are being conducted on making available samples of bodily fluids of cancer patients for training dogs, said IG K Sethuraman, KEPA director. Use of canines in detecting diseases is actively being employed in clinical trials, laboratories and research programmes in several western countries.

The olfactory sense of dogs is 10,000-1,00,000 times more acute than humans. Research has shown that they can detect different types of cancer with high accuracy by identifying volatile organic compounds that are released by tumours into the bodily secretions and breath.

Studies have revealed that lung and breast cancer could be detected from breath with an accuracy of over 95%. Similar studies observed high accuracy in detecting prostate and bladder, colorectal, ovarian and pancreatic cancer types. “Early detection is the key in cancer treatment. By using dogs, the detection can be made at the earliest; it is cheap and non-invasive. We will implement the proposal very soon,” Sethuraman said.

This story has been written by Shan A S.