Smelling Cancer?

[MikeyJ]

One of my nursing instructors told our class that she has acquired a smell for cancer, and when she walks in a room she can tell immediately if a patient has cancer.

Do nurses typically "acquire" these intuitive smells after many years of nursing??

[MelodyRNurse]

I remember learning that aggressive tumors secrete abnormal amounts of certain enzymes and/or hormones (Perineoplastic syndrome or something). Maybe certain hormones in excessive amounts cause the body to have a certain smell?? I don't know. Just a thought.

[steelcityrn, RN]

I guess anything is possible. I have read where peoples animals were thought to have picked up the scent of cancer.

[ChristyMNOP]

I'm sure its true. I've heard for years that advanced cancer has a smell that is distinct, makes sense that some people with good sniffers would pick it up early.

[Valanda]

I've been able to smell cancer for awhile. I worked for 4 years in a hospice wing where the average stay was only 2 weeks. Twice now I've smelled it in people who were close to me and really struggled with whether to tell them or not. With my friend, I simply suggested that since she hadn't had a pap smear in 10 years, it might be a good idea. With my grandmother, I kept silent because I knew her well enough to know she would not have done anything to treat it anyway. My friend did have cervical cancer. My grandmother died from lung cancer. Granted, it seems to have to be well-advanced for me to smell it.

[Kiwimid]

i cant smell cancer but i can smell pregnancy on someone. Kinda musty. i knew the 16 year old neighbour was preggers before the rest of the neighbourhood. I was 10 at the time. I am training to be a midwife so it might come in handy!!!! lol. this may be a bit off topic but i know the moment i have conceieved. I kinda have a converstion with myself....well, what shall we call this one??? hehehehe......i have four kids and i dont have alot of false alarms.

[EarthChild1130]

This is very interesting to me...I've worked with people who have cancer and people who have schizophrenia and I can't smell a darn thing...what I CAN smell is uremia in patients with kidney problems, and I remember that smell ONLY too well from working at the vet's as a 20-something...to this day when I smell it, it makes me GAG! I can smell C.diff too...will have to work on the cancer-sniffing abilities...

[faith716rn]

Had a pt. once with very advanced uterine cancer. She had a very distinct odor that her doctor said was the smell of cancer. Have had several pts since with cancer diagnoses who had the same smell about them. Doesn't always happen, but it is very distinctive and immediately recognizable once you have become aware of it.

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

I believe that some people have this ability. When my father retired he began to just walk around a lot. So I talked Mama into taking him to the family doc who hadn't seen him in a while. First thing Dr. M said was "Your dad has that smell of cancer(out of Daddy's presence) let's get him to a neurologist. The neuro said the same thing, and discovered one other thing, Daddy couldn't read any more, couldn't see out of one eye and was practically aphasic. He went into a coma that night and died 23 days later of Cerebral mass.

[Liz Lea]

My cat Tweety has an aggressive, fast-growing (per the vet oncologist) skin cancer, a fibrosarcoma grade III. She had surgery to have a small lesion (nickel-sized and raised) off her back seven months ago. I didn't smell anything unusual around her at that time. The cancer has recurred (now 2 inches AP by 1.5 inches transverse by 1.25 inches deep) and now she has a pronounced smell, musty and slightly sweet with an unpleasant undertone that I can't define. I first noticed it when I came home a few weeks ago and noticed this faint smell everywhere in my place. At first I wondered if someone had sprayed air freshener that had gotten into the ducts, but then smelled the undertone that certainly wasn't air freshener. Now I notice the same smell but much stronger when she is close to me, and the pervasive smell in my apartment has become gradually stronger since I first noticed it. Tweety hasn't had chemo or radiation therapy; the vet onc said it wouldn't give her much additional time and I know that the treatments would cause her misery. She is still eating well and playing and hanging out with her friends, so I haven't taken her to the vet for her last shot.

[canesdukegirl, BSN, RN]

I can smell cervical ca, but I imagine that everyone else can too. It is an awful smell. You know, the kind that permeates your hair and you feel like it is still on you even after you shower? My mom had renal ca and when I changed her, I would gag from the very distinct smell...not sure if this was just kidney failure smell or ca smell. The pts I used to take care of on the unit who were in kidney failure did NOT have the same type of smell though, so I guess it was a specific ca smell.

My dog can smell melanoma. My father in law passed away a couple of years ago from melanoma and my dog would constantly put her nose right on his back where the melanoma was.

[TiffyRN, BSN, PhD]

I have a brother-in-law that has been treated and is being followed for bladder cancer. I remember one winter after his initial treatment; I started smelling a very unpleasant odor around him; can't define it. I thought he was just being careless with his personal hygiene as he was between jobs. When it came time for his next cystoscopy they found several aggressive tumors in his urethra, which is "closer" to the outside than bladder tumors. The surgeon resected the tumors carefully and I quit smelling that smell. I thought I smelled it briefly around him once again a few months later and at his next cysto they resected out a small tumor.

I have only told my husband about this. He kind of thought I was a little off for thinking I could smell this. I don't go around smelling people, but I remember my husband having a very distinct odor to his skin when he was on strict Atkins diet. Kind of makes sense because it induces a state of ketoacidosis which is well known to have an odor.

[JeanettePNP, MSN, RN, NP]

On one of my first clinicals there was a patient who gave off a distinct smell.. we thought it was because she hadn't been bathed, but the instructor said it was cancer. It was a very advanced case... had metastasized throughout her body. I still remember that smell, so if it indeed is "the cancer smell" I would recognize it.