Initially targeted at renal insufficiency or patients suffering from severe anemia, artificial Buy erythropoietin Injection US (EPO) quickly found its place in the doping arsenal. Its astonishing effectiveness has made forget certain artisan methods. Forbidden for more than ten years by the International Olympic Committee, it remains difficult to detect. Focus on a success story of the cheat.
Even if it was during the 1998 Tour de France that the EPO has covered the chronicle, its use would involve other sports from football to marathon and skiing ... Back on this dopant of a new kind.
EPO marks the end of artisanal doping
Originally, EPO is a naturally produced hormone produced by the kidneys (80%) and the liver (20%). It stimulates the production by the bone marrow of red blood cells that transport oxygen to the organs. In 1983, the Californian laboratory Amgen produced industrial epoetin alfa. This scientific advance is a giant step for some patients: renal failure treated with hemodialysis, severe anemia in infants or following cancer chemotherapy.
At this time, the Buy erythropoietin Injection US is not yet interested in sportsmen, yet the consequences of an increase in oxygenation of the blood are already well known. Methods ranged from the systematization of pregnancies in athletes in some Eastern countries in the 1950s (the benefits on the amount of hemoglobin were maintained while the pregnancy was interrupted after 3-6 months) to autotransfusion ( Blood sample reinjected in the form of a purée of red blood cells a few days before the test), the logistics of which remain heavy and the risks high. But with the sulphurous doctor Francesco Conconi, the EPO was going to land in force in the transalpine cycling to gradually spread to many countries.
Infarction, cancer ... a dangerous game
The artificial EPO has been largely diverted from its original use to offer cheaters endurance and increased performance. With the strange increase in the results of some athletes, the suspicion is general. And despite new rules of the International Cycling Union limiting the rate of hematocrit to 50% (volume of red blood cells on the total blood volume), fraudsters quickly found the parry.
However, there is a flip side of the coin. The Buy erythropoietin Injection US is not insignificant. Injected too quickly, its side effects are similar to an influenza syndrome ... symptoms found strangely in some cases ... But sometimes, the skid is more important: "By increasing the number of red blood cells, the blood becomes less fluid.
In the short term, this thickening increases the risk of blood clots, thus the risk of thrombosis (infarction or stroke), "says Prof. Michel Audran, professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy of Montpellier (Hérault) and expert at the Doping Control and Prevention Council (CPLD), which requires spiked athletes to take aspirin or anticoagulants (which thin the blood), although several suspect deaths occur during the 1990s. In the long term, epoetin alfa can lead to high blood pressure, or even bone marrow cancer.
EPO intake remains difficult to prove
In spite of these risks, the Buy erythropoietin Injection US has attracted and still attracts. To unmask cheaters, the challenge of doping is far from easy. "Epo is a molecule that has a very short half-life, and after three days the molecule becomes undetectable, while its effects last 2 to 3 weeks." For doped athletes who have spent months increasing the number of Their red blood cells, it is enough to stop a few days before the competition to pass through the meshes of the net, "says Michel Audran.
