Sniffer dogs detect lung cancer 嗅探犬偵測肺癌

Sniffer dogs detect lung cancer
嗅探犬偵測肺癌
2011-09-15◎國際新聞中心

Sniffer dogs can be used to reliably detect lung cancer, according to researchers in Germany. Writing in the European Respiratory Journal, they found that trained dogs could detect a tumour in 71% of patients.
根據德國研究人員指出，嗅探犬可被用來可靠地偵測肺癌。在發表於《歐洲呼吸期刊》的文章中，他們發現受過訓練的狗可偵測出71%病患的腫瘤。

It is thought that tumours produce "volatile chemicals" which a dog can detect. Researchers trained four dogs to detect lung cancer. Three groups of patients were tested： 110 healthy people, 60 with lung cancer and 50 with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a narrowing of the airways of the lungs.
腫瘤被認為會製造狗能偵測的「易揮發化學物質」，研究人員訓練4條狗來偵測肺癌，接受測試的3組，分別為110名健康人、60名肺癌病患，以及50名肺部氣管變窄的慢性阻塞性肺病患者。

They all breathed into a fleece filled tube, which absorbed any smells. The dogs sniffed the tubes and sat down in front of those in which they detected lung cancer smells. They were successful 71% of the time.
他們都呼氣到1個可以吸收任何味道、塞了羊毛的管內，狗兒聞管子後，在牠們聞到有肺癌的人面前坐下，偵測成功的機率達71%。

Dr Thorsten Walles, the report’s author from Schillerhoehe Hospital, said： "In the breath of patients with lung cancer, there are likely to be different chemicals to normal breath samples and the dogs’ keen sense of smell can detect this difference at an early stage of the disease. Our results confirm the presence of a stable marker for lung cancer. This is a big step forward."
研究作者、德國席勒霍赫醫院的瓦歷斯醫師說：「肺癌患者呼吸裡的化學物質，可能與正常呼氣樣本不同，狗的敏感嗅覺可偵測到在疾病初期的這種差異，我們的研究證實肺癌存在穩定標記，這是很大的進步。」

新聞辭典

volatile：形容詞，易揮發的，反覆無常的。例句：He had a rather volatile temper and can’t have been easy to live with.（他的脾氣相當反覆無常，跟他住不是很容易。）

narrow：動詞，變窄。例句：They have narrowed the focus of the investigation, to concentrate on younger adults.（他們把調查重點縮小到比較年輕的成年人。）

presence：名詞，存在。例句：She was overawed by the presence of so many people.（這麼多人在場讓她相當驚訝。）