Clinical trial · Interventional
Early Detection of Lung Tumors by Sniffer Dogs - Evaluation of Sensitivity and Specificity
Prospective Clinical Study to Determine the Predictive Value of Sniffer Dogs to Identify Lung Cancer in the Exhalation of Patients With and Without Pulmonary Disease
- Source
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Retrieved
- Sep 8, 2026
- Layer
- normalized (units and labels harmonized; values unchanged)
- Run
- ING-CLINICALTRIALS-20260908-000001
Summary
Brief summary (as posted)
Some groups reported that sniffer dogs can be applied to detect lung cancer in the exhaled breath of patients. Therefore, breath samples (BS) of patients are collected. Five sniffer dogs are trained to distinguish between the BS of patients with lung cancer and healthy individuals (controls). In a prospective, randomized blinded study the dog's ability to differentiate between BS of i) patients with lung cancer, ii) patients with inflammatory airway disease, but no evidence of cancer and iii) healthy individuals is tested.
Conditions
Conditions (2)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chronic Obstructive Airway Disease | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
| Lung Cancer | Malignant Lung Neoplasm | CURATED_EXACT | 0.92 |
Interventions
Interventions (1)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| exhalation analysis of breath sample | Procedure | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (3)
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- lung cancer
- description
- breath samples of patients with confirmed lung cancer
- interventionNames
- Procedure: exhalation analysis of breath sample
- type
- ACTIVE_COMPARATOR
- label
- underlying lung disease
- description
- patients with underlying lung disease and impairment in lung function
- interventionNames
- Procedure: exhalation analysis of breath sample
- type
- SHAM_COMPARATOR
- label
- healthy individual
- description
- healthy individual with no lung disease and no history of cancer including lung cancer
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- All
- Minimum age
- 18 Years
- Maximum age
- 80 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria: * age 18-80 * competent * confirmed lung cancer Exclusion Criteria: * history of other cancers
References
Publications (2)
- BACKGROUNDBoedeker E, Friedel G, Walles T. Sniffer dogs as part of a bimodal bionic research approach to develop a lung cancer screening. Interact Cardiovasc Thorac Surg. 2012 May;14(5):511-5. doi: 10.1093/icvts/ivr070. Epub 2012 Feb 17. PMID 22345057
- RESULTEhmann R, Boedeker E, Friedrich U, Sagert J, Dippon J, Friedel G, Walles T. Canine scent detection in the diagnosis of lung cancer: revisiting a puzzling phenomenon. Eur Respir J. 2012 Mar;39(3):669-76. doi: 10.1183/09031936.00051711. Epub 2011 Aug 18. PMID 21852337