A dog with an 'unbelievable' sense of smell has been able to sniff out thyroid cancer in people not yet diagnosed with the disease. US researchers said that on a test of 34 patients, Frankie the German Shepherd showed 88 per cent accuracy in finding tumours. Frankie was trained to lie down when he could smell thyroid cancer in a sample of urine and turn away if it was clean. A dog with an 'unbelievable' sense of smell has been able to sniff out thyroid cancer in people not yet been diagnosed with the disease. The US researchers said that on a test of 34 patients, Frankie the German Shepherd showed 88 per cent accuracy in finding tumours . Researchers at the University of Arkansas said Frankie only made two false positives and two incorrect 'all-clear' diagnoses. 'What we have done, no one has attempted to do,' said lead author Arny Ferrando, who noted past studies showing trained dogs can reliably tell the difference between cancerous and non-cancerous tissues. 'We have taken the next step by asking the dog to tell us whether or not cancer exists before the medical diagnostic system does. 'We wanted to see, can the doctor utilise the dog to help diagnose cancer?' Thyroid tumours, which occur in a gland in the neck, are relatively rare and usually diagnosed by taking a blood sample and testing its hormone levels. Frankie was trained to lie down when he could smell thyroid cancer in a sample of urine and turn away if it was clean. Thyroid tumours (artist's illustration right), which occur in a gland in the neck, are relatively rare and usually diagnosed by taking a blood sample and testing its hormone levels . 'Detecting and diagnosing thyroid cancer can be difficult, because it's often looking for a very small number of occurrences in a very large background of benign nodules,' said Dr Donald Bodenner at the University of Arkansas. 'It is also difficult to say with certainty that a patient is cancer-free after surgery.' Dogs, however, can sense it as their ability to smell is 10 times better than that of humans. The researchers now want to see if Frankie, and other dogs, could be used as a diagnostic test for different types of cancer. Cancer Research UK told the BBC that using dogs would be impractical. However, it added that discovering the chemicals the dogs can smell could lead to better tests. Researchers at the University of Arkansas said Frankie only made two false positives and two incorrect 'all-clear' diagnoses. He is pictured here. Pictured is Dr Arny Ferrando, who found Frankie as a stray . 'Having a technique with which to do these things with a higher degree of certainty would be a tremendous advance in thyroid cancer,' said Dr Bodenner. The implications could be tremendous, the researchers said, both in terms of cost savings in diagnoses and especially the prevention of unnecessary surgeries. Additionally, the method could be transported to under-served areas where traditional detection methods of biopsy and ultrasound are unavailable. The researchers believe the training could also potentially be used in diagnosis of other cancers such as ovarian, breast, kidney, bladder and prostate. Josie Conlan, 46, had no idea she had a lump in her breast until her two-year-old border collie Ted began to repeatedly cry, paw and nuzzle at her chest . Earlier this year, it was revealed a woman has had an aggressive cancerous tumour removed after the dog she rescued from a life of misery sniffed out an aggressive tumour in the nick of time. Josie Conlan, 46, had no idea she had a cancerous lump in her breast until her two-year-old border collie Ted began to repeatedly cry, paw and nuzzle at her chest - and she now credits him with saving her life. The mother-of-four from Stockton-on-Tees wondered what was wrong, and when she put her hand to her chest she realised she had a lump. She visited her GP and was diagnosed with cancer but has now had the tumour, which she was told was advanced at grade three, removed. In the two weeks before she was operated on the lump had grown by an incredible five millimetres and Josie believes that if it wasn't for Ted she could have been dead by summer. Stay-at-home-mum Josie now wants to let other people know that they should take notice of dogs if they start to draw attention to a certain area of their owners' body. 'Thyroid cancer is our template,' said Dr Ferrando. 'It's one of the fastest growing cancers in terms of occurrences in the world. 'It's not one of the highest mortality cancers, but one of the fastest growing in terms of newly diagnosed cases.' So far the team has used what are termed 'general source' dogs, or strays that have been trained in scent detection methods. Their plan is to now work with researchers at Auburn University's Canine Performance Sciences program in the College of Veterinary Medicine to teach and imprint 'specific purpose' dogs, or those specifically bred for detection. 'If we do 300 samples with a diagnostic accuracy of 90 percent, that's pretty hard to ignore, especially if it comes from Auburn, which has been doing canine training for 25 years,' added Dr Ferrando. 'What we have done, no one has attempted to do,' said lead author Arny Ferrando (pictured), who noted past studies showing trained dogs can tell the difference between various cancerous and non-cancerous tissues .
Frankie was trained to lie down after smelling thyroid cancer in urine . Dogs have a sense of smell that is 10 times better than that of humans . On 34 patients, Frankie gave 2 false positives and 2 incorrect 'all-clears'
Scientists don't yet know what dogs can smell when they detect cancer . Finding out could help create an 'electronic nose' to diagnose disease .