Medical imaging devices to detect cancer are expensive and often don’t work on early-stage cancers.
There are many anecdotes about pet dogs detecting cancer. Now there’s a Dognosis web site and formal training in India which has a huge population that can’t afford high-cost diagnostic machinery.
April 24, 2026
Akash Kulgod
Dognosis publishes Phase-2 Trial in Journal of Clinical Oncology
A simple breath test powered by trained dogs can detect cancer with over 90% accuracy across seven major types of cancer, including at its earliest and most treatable stages. The results, from the largest study of its kind (Kulgod, et al., 2026), were published today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
The test is straightforward: a person breathes normally into a cotton face mask for 10 minutes. The mask is sealed, stored, and later evaluated by trained detection dogs at a central laboratory. Each sample is assessed independently by at least three dogs, and their assessments are combined using an advanced Bayesian statistical model that weighs each dog’s track record and the participant’s background information. No blood is drawn, no scan is needed, and no fasting is required.
The study was conducted in collaboration with Medical Detection Dogs, a UK-based charity and world leader in canine bio-detection research that has previously demonstrated dogs can detect the odour of diseases including prostate and bladder cancer, Parkinson’s disease, malaria, and COVID-19. Six hospitals in Karnataka, India … with 1,502 people in the final test group (283 with biopsy-confirmed cancer and 1,219 without). The dogs and model together correctly identified over 90% of cancers and over 91% of non-cancers across head and neck, breast, lung, gynecologic, upper and lower GI, and genitourinary cancers. Accuracy was just as high for early-stage disease (Stages I and II), where catching cancer early can dramatically improve survival… [end quote]
There’s no question that Parkinson’s disease could be detected by dogs since a woman (with an extremely sensitive nose) detected a change in odor that was eventually analyzed. But the analysis isn’t routine.
I think it’s exciting that dogs can be trained as disease analysts. Many dogs really enjoy the challenge since they think it’s a fun game. And people would benefit by early detection of dangerous diseases.
Wendy
On the other hand, the original research was done in India where there are a lot of trained elephants. Maybe they could set up the lab outside. 