How long does blood doping work

As you can see, the combination of both blood and urine analytic techniques is very useful in detecting potential doping infractions involving blood transfusions. Another common method of doping is the use of recombinant human erythropoietin rHuEPO , which stimulates the production of red blood cells. Originally produced to treat several forms of chronic anaemia, EPO has been the source of numerous doping scandals in sport, especially in endurance sports such as cycling, distance running and cross-country skiing.

WADA added this compound to its testing regime only this year and athletes have already been caught using them. This variable is calculated from the haemoglobin a protein responsible for transporting oxygen in the blood concentration, the reticulocyte immature blood cells percentage and an abnormal profile score.

If a suspicious or abnormal profile is determined with this calculation, the data is forwarded to a panel of doping experts who review it to determine if a doping infraction has actually occurred. If the panel deems that it has, WADA initiates a suspension process.

One way athletes appear to be circumventing the biological passports model is by small, frequent use of EPO. In , Australian researchers found frequent micro-dosing allows athletes to use rhEPO without abnormal changes in the blood variables that are currently monitored by the athlete blood passport.

As the fight against doping continues, athletes appear to be continually searching for ways to elevate their performance and evade detection. The athlete then injects the stored blood via blood transfusion the day before a race or match. The idea is that unexplained fluctuations in biological variables for instance, hemoglobin content in the blood, hematocrit value , or the number of new, immature red blood cells, called reticulocytes could indicate doping, even though some doping methods cannot be detected directly.

Nine healthy, well trained men with an average age of 29 years participated in the study. They had at least three years of experience in endurance sports cycling or triathlon.

The men participated in two rounds of experimentation. They randomly received either a blood transfusion or a placebo in the first round of testing. In the second round of testing they received the opposite. The study was blinded for both the test manager and test subjects. In both rounds of testing the subject performed a time trial of approximately 40 minutes on an ergometer bike before and after receiving a blood transfusion of their own blood or a placebo. A few years after the Mexico Games, and through the s and s athletes used transfusions to blood dope.

That method wasn't banned until , after the Los Angeles Olympics, where the U. There are two methods of using transfusions for blood doping, plus other methods that use substitutes and hormones. For transfusions, there's the standard method, using blood from someone of the same blood type. The hemoglobin in the transfused blood increases the amount of hemoglobin in the recipient's bloodstream.

That's called homologous transfusion. Another method used by athletes is transfusing their own blood, which is called autologous transfusion. Hospital patients awaiting elective surgery sometimes choose this method to avoid infections and blood type match errors. Athletes have their own blood withdrawn, preferably when their hemoglobin level is high, stored and then re-infused before a competition.

The athlete's blood could also be run through a centrifuge to isolate red blood cells from blood plasma. In , Spanish police raided a cycling team doctor's office in Madrid and discovered 99 bags of athletes' blood allegedly being stored for later transfusion.

American cyclist Tyler Hamilton, an Armstrong teammate, was investigated by the IOC during the Athens Games, after his initial sample indicated he had tested positive for a blood transfusion but the case was dropped after his backup "B" sample was mistakenly frozen and couldn't be properly tested. The IOC stripped him of the medal in August. It took 20 years until a successful test was developed in for homologous transfusions, which involves using another person's blood, but experts are still confounded by the use of an athlete's own blood.