AI-trained dogs in India sniff out cancer in experimental screening effort

Chloe spends her time between a farm outside Bengaluru and an unusual medical experiment. The Labrador mix wears a 3D-printed helmet and sensor-packed harness while learning to detect cancer in human breath.

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In an hour, they can do thousands of sniffs.

She is one of 15 dogs trained by Dognosis, a Bengaluru startup that uses artificial intelligence to analyze the animals’ brain activity, breathing and body language. The goal is to convert their reactions to scents into data that could support a non-invasive cancer test.

Dogs can perform thousands of sniffs in an hour, said co-founder Akash Kulgod. “Each sniff can evaluate a sample.” Patients breathe into a cotton mask for about 10 minutes, after which the sealed mask goes to a laboratory. The patients do not meet the dogs.

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Each sniff can evaluate a sample.

Dognosis says a recent study involving more than 1,500 people at six hospitals in Karnataka achieved accuracy above 90 percent across seven major cancer types. The study appeared in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, and the company plans to test the method in real-world programs while seeking commercial approval.

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The study is promising, as an early signal.

Cancer specialists not involved in the project struck a cautious note. Santhosh Kumar Devadas of Ramaiah Memorial Hospital called the study “promising, as an early signal,” but said researchers needed a much larger group before drawing firm conclusions. Neelesh Reddy of Manipal Hospitals said, “only time will tell how this technology will be useful to the actual patients”. Dognosis hopes the system could offer an affordable first layer of screening in India, where many patients receive diagnoses only after the disease has advanced.

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only time will tell how this technology will be useful to the actual patients