German shepherd Frieda 'the way forward' for early prostate cancer detection

Frieda, the prostate cancer detecting dog, with K9 Medical Detection New Zealand senior trainer Courtney Moore at the training facility in Invermay. Photo / Gerard O'Brien

Dogs are well known for being able to sniff out an unattended steak on a bench from a mile away.

But Frieda, the German shepherd cancer detection dog, has taken that ability leaps and bounds further, by proving she can detect prostate cancer samples in saline at a ratio as low as 5 per cent.

K9 Medical Detection New Zealand (K9MD) chief executive officer Pauline Blomfield said Frieda was trained in Dunedin and recently completed the proof-of-concept stage of her training.

The validation consisted of 200 samples and was completed over five consecutive days under strict guidelines and conditions.

An independent observer was present during the testing to verify the process and ensure blind testing conditions (the trainer does not know whether the samples are positive or negative) were maintained throughout.

The results were recorded into a specific software program and analysed by K9MD's biostatistician.

"Using various concentration ratios from 100 per cent down to 5 per cent for the validation, Frieda successfully detected positive prostate cancer samples 100 per cent of the time and ignored samples that did not contain cancer 100 per cent of the time," Blomfield said.

"Since validation, Frieda is now detecting positive prostate cancer samples as low as 1.25 per cent."

The validation announcement coincides with Prostate Cancer Awareness Month (November).

Blomfield believed dogs such as Frieda were "the way forward" for early detection, to offer New Zealand men an easy, non-invasive screening and surveillance opportunity for prostate cancer.

"This would be a value-added tool to help protect men's health, enable earlier instigation of treatment and potentially lead to improved patient outcomes.

"The use of highly trained medical detection canines will help decrease the need for any extra invasive tests and it will help increase the efficiency of the health system."

With Frieda's solid odour imprinting of the specific volatile organic compounds released from prostate cancer, K9MD planned to continue with the second stage of her training, using patient urine samples.

However, more fundraising was required first, she said.

About $250,000 per year was needed to continue the work.

Earlier this year, K9MD dog Levi achieved a world-first when he successfully completed the proof-of-concept stage of training by detecting bowel cancer in saline as low as 6 per cent ratio.

Levi's training has now moved to stage two - diagnostic test accuracy in real-world conditions using patient urine samples.