Table 1 Overview medical detection dog studies
From: Canine olfactory detection and its relevance to medical detection
Publication | Authors | Detection of | Study design | Sample material | Sample size | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Real-Time Detection of a Virus Using Detection Dogs [23] | Angle et al. (2016) | Bovine viral diarrhea virus | Randomised, blinded | Cell culture | n = 15 | Sensitivity 91% Specificity 99% |
Trained dogs identify people with malaria parasites by their odour [34] | Guest et al. (2019) | Malaria infection | Randomised, blinded | Body odour (socks) | n = 175 | Sensitivity 72% Specificity 91% |
Detection of Bacteriuria by Canine Olfaction [22] | Maurer et al. (2016) | Bacteriuria | Randomised, blinded | Urine | n = 687 | Sensitivity near 100% Specificity above 90% |
Using Dog Scent Detection as a Point-of-Care Tool to Identify Toxigenic Clostridium difficile in Stool [35] | Taylor et al. (2018) | Toxigenic Clostridium difficile | Randomised, blinded | Faeces | n = 300 | Sensitivity 85% Specificity 85% |
Olfactory detection of human bladder cancer by dogs: Proof of principle study [8] | Willis et al. (2004) | Bladder cancer | Randomised, blinded | Urine | n = 144 | mean success rate 41% |
Olfactory Detection of Prostate Cancer by Dogs Sniffing Urine: A Step Forward in Early Diagnosis [9] | Cornu et al. (2011) | Prostate cancer | Randomised, blinded | Urine | n = 66 | Sensitivity 91% Specificity 91% |
Key considerations for the experimental training and evaluation of cancer odour detection dogs: lessons learnt from a double-blind, controlled trial of prostate cancer detection [10] | Elliker et al. (2014) | Prostate cancer | Randomised, blinded | Urine | n = 181 | Sensitivity 19% Specificity 73% |
A Proof of concept: Are Detection Dogs a Useful Tool to Verify Potential Biomarkers Biomarkers for lung cancer? [11] | Fischer-Tenhagen et al. (2018) | Lung cancer | Randomised, blinded | Absorbed breath samples | n = 60 | correct identification average 95%, correct negative indications average 60% |
Accuracy of Canine Scent Detection of Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer in Blood Serum [12] | Junqueira et al. (2019) | Non–small cell lung cancer | Randomised, blinded | Blood serum | n = 10 | Sensitivity 97%, Specificity 98% |
Diagnostic accuracy of canine scent detection in early- and late-stage lung and breast cancers [14] | McCulloch et al. (2006) | Lung and breast cancer | Randomised, blinded | Breath | n = 169 | Lung cancer: Sensitivity 99% Specificity 99% Breast cancer: Sensitivity 88% Specificity 98% |
How dogs learn to detect colon cancer-Optimizing the use of training aids [15] | Schoon et al. (2020) | Colon cancer | Randomised, blinded | Faeces | n = 70 | Average hit rate 84% Average false positive rate 12% (for new unknown samples) |
Colorectal cancer screening with odour material by canine scent detection [17] | Sonoda et al. (2011) | Colorectal cancer | Randomised, blinded | Breath and faeces | n = 350 | Breath: Sensitivity 91% Specificity 99% Faeces: Sensitivity 97% Specificity 99% |
Cancer odor in the blood of ovarian cancer patients: a retrospective study of detection by dogs during treatment, 3 and 6 months afterward [16] | Horvath et al. (2013) | Ovarian cancer | Randomised, blinded | Blood plasma | n = 262 | Sensitivity 97% Specificity 99% |
Can Trained Dogs Detect a Hypoglycemic Scent in Patients With Type 1 Diabetes? [123] | Dehlinger et al. (2013) | Hypoglycaemia | Blinded | Skin odour | n = 24 | Sensitivity 56% Specificity 53% |
Dogs Can Be Successfully Trained to Alert to Hypoglycemia Samples from Patients with Type 1 Diabetes [42] | Hardin et al. (2015) | Hypoglycaemia | Randomised, blinded | Sweat | n = 56 | Sensitivity 50%-88% Specificity 90%-98% |
How effective are trained dogs at alerting their owners to changes in blood glycaemic levels?: Variations in performance of glycaemia alert dogs [18] | Rooney et al. (2019) | Hypoglycaemia | Not applicable | Breath and sweat | Not applicable | Median sensitivity 83% |
Variability of Diabetes Alert Dog Accuracy in a Real-World Setting [19] | Gonder-Frederick et al. (2017) | Hypoglycaemia | Not applicable | Body odour | Not applicable | Sensitivity 57% Specificity 49% |
Reliability of Trained Dogs to Alert to Hypoglycemia in Patients With Type 1 Diabetes [20] | Los et al. (2017) | Hypoglycaemia | Not applicable | Body odour | Not applicable | Sensitivity 36% |
Dogs demonstrate the existence of an epileptic seizure odour in humans [21] | Catala et al. (2019) | Epileptic seizure | Pseudo-randomised, blinded | Breath and sweat | n = 5 | Sensitivity 87% Specificity 98% |
Canine detection of volatile organic compounds unique to human epileptic seizure [43] | Maa et al. (2021) | Epileptic seizure | Randomised, blinded | Sweat | n = 60 | Probability of distinguishing ictal versus interictal sweat 93% Probability of canine detection of seizure scent preceded clinical seizure 82% |