A study conducted at the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine showed that beagles can sniff out human lung cancer with almost perfect accuracy, according to reports.Three beagles participating in the study were able to differentiate blood serum samples from patients with non-small lung cancer versus healthy samples with 97% accuracy, YourErie.com reported.“The dogs underwent an eight-week training program using the clicker/treat training method,” Dr. Thomas A. Quinn, a clinical professor at the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, told MedicalResearch.com.Non-small cell lung cancer is the most common type of lung cancer, accounting for about 85% of all lung cancer diagnoses, according to the American Cancer Society.The dogs would sit if they sniffed cancer in a sample, People reported.Beagles specifically were chosen because of the breed’s strong sense of smell, which is at least 10,000 times stronger than humans, YourErie.com reported.Researchers at the school have also successfully been able to train dogs to detect cancer using saliva and breath with “equal accuracy,” Quinn said.“We’re using the dogs to sort through the layers of scent until we identify the telltale biomarkers,” Quinn said in a press release. “There is still a great deal of work ahead, but we’re making good progress.”Early detection in cancer, particularly in lung cancer, where it’s the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States, plays a crucial role in survival rates.“Early detection of cancer is one of the best ways to improve patient outcomes, and current methods of early detection rely on expensive imaging equipment, which can be an insurmountable obstacle for underserved and rural communities,” researchers wrote in the study, People reported. “Further investigation into the biochemical molecules detected by dogs could provide a foundation for the development of a highly sensitive, specific, and cost-effective method for early cancer detection.”