Blood Doping

When we speak of endurance sports like marathon, cycling and the like, the discussion is focused on stamina. The basic requirement to maintain stamina is a constant supply of oxygen that is carried by the red blood cells (RBC). So if these cells increase in their number, athletic performance would be enhanced, as then the user would be able to maintain more stamina. And one of the ways that was put to use for this purpose, is what is known as blood doping. Here, the athlete receives an intravenous infusion of blood, so as to increase the amount of oxygen that is supplied from the lungs to the muscles. In this way, endurance and aerobic capacity is heightened.

Types of Blood Doping

This process can be done in two methods. The first method would involve using the blood from a donor, and in the second method, the person's own blood is utilized. The blood from the donor (1 to 4 units) is harvested, processed to create a concentration of RBC's and frozen. And just before the endurance event, this very blood is transfused into the athlete. The same process is followed when the blood is taken from the athlete himself and re-infused back into his circulation, before the event. Now if everything goes right, then this process hikes the hemoglobin level and the red blood cell count by 20%.

Now this whole process of blood doping to increase stamina may sound inviting for athletes who want to have an edge in their sports career. However, what most are unaware of are the various drawbacks or let's say, side effects of this process.

Side Effects

• The process wherein, the athlete takes the blood from a donor is known as a homologous transfusion. The risk that this method possess is the possibility of contracting blood-borne diseases like HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, etc.
• Another side effect is what is known as transfusion reaction. Here, the receiver may experience fever, itchy skin and severe hypersensitivity reaction.
• The process wherein, the athlete himself is the donor, is known as autologous transfusion. Here, the possible complications include anemia, infection, inflammation of veins, etc.
• In some cases, blood doping may not work for the purpose intended, but give rise to undesirable outcomes. If the doping occurs in excess, then it may increase the blood viscosity, giving rise to a condition known as hyperviscosity syndrome. This in turn would bring about a decrease in the cardiac output, and slow down the blood flow. So what may happen is, the aerobic capacity may get hampered, instead of getting enhanced.
• Heart attack
• Cerebral embolism
• Pulmonary embolism
• Allergic reaction

A popular case of the negative impact of this process occurred in the 1984 United States Olympics. A cycling team, in order to gain an upper hand in the competition, went for the homologous transfusion, as they did not have enough time to use their own blood. The trial turned out to be a huge success. However, some of them were soon diagnosed with hepatitis. After this incident, International Olympic Committee passed the act that any kind of blood doping in sports is to be considered illicit and unethical. According to recent studies, there is no standard test to detect autologous transfusions, but there are for homologous ones.

As you can infer from the above description, blood doping may have stronger negative implications than positive ones. So, going for alternative methods like training at high altitudes, and sleeping in a low-oxygen tent, is a safer option for increasing the RBC count.