Athletes participating in aerobic endurance activities such as running, bicycling, swimming, and cross-country skiing require optimum aerobic capacity to deliver as much oxygen as possible to the muscles to increase stamina and performance. Aerobic capacity can be improved by doing aerobic capacity workouts frequently. Sadly, some chose to take the shortcut way to success by cheating with blood doping to achieve optimum aerobic capacity, thus gaining an unfair advantage.
Blood doping is one of the illegal ways to improve athletic performance. In general, it aims to enhance an athlete’s performance by boosting the number of red blood cells in the circulatory system. The increase in red blood cells will cause an increase in the volume of oxygen …show more content…
Homologous blood is the blood collected from another compatible human donor and transfused into the individual. Heterologous blood is the blood collected from a species and transfused into a different species. Meanwhile, red blood cell products include red blood cells, washed red blood cells, leukoreduced red blood cells and pediatric/divided red blood cell units. According to the list, all of these types of blood and red blood cell products of any origin (whether synthetic or natural) are not permitted to be administered or reintroduced into the circulatory …show more content…
Autologous blood transfusion may cause significant health risks in the athlete if the procedure is not carried out properly or if the blood is not handled or stored in a proper manner. In homologous blood transfusion, another person’s blood may be tainted, thus potentially spreading infectious diseases such as HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C and affecting the athlete’s health. Blood thickening will also occur with blood transfusions, forcing the heart to work harder to pump blood throughout the body. This subsequently leads to an increased risk of several deadly diseases such as heart disease, stroke, and cerebral or pulmonary embolism. Over time, repeated blood transfusions can cause a dangerous buildup of iron in the body. In addition, blood transfusions may cause potential side effects such as allergic reactions, fever, rashes and hives,
Erythropoietin (EPO) is a peptide hormone that is produced naturally in the kidney. EPO acts on the bone marrow to stimulate red blood cell production, thus increasing the levels of red blood cells in the circulatory system. While proper use of EPO is therapeutically significant in the treatment of kidney disease-related anemia, its misuse may cause blood thickening as well. Besides that, potential side effects include hyperkalemia, high blood pressure and mild flu-like symptoms. Meanwhile, autoimmune diseases with serious health consequences may result from the misuse of recombinant human EPO.
Blood doping is one of the illegal ways to improve athletic performance. In general, it aims to enhance an athlete’s performance by boosting the number of red blood cells in the circulatory system. The increase in red blood cells will cause an increase in the volume of oxygen …show more content…
Homologous blood is the blood collected from another compatible human donor and transfused into the individual. Heterologous blood is the blood collected from a species and transfused into a different species. Meanwhile, red blood cell products include red blood cells, washed red blood cells, leukoreduced red blood cells and pediatric/divided red blood cell units. According to the list, all of these types of blood and red blood cell products of any origin (whether synthetic or natural) are not permitted to be administered or reintroduced into the circulatory …show more content…
Autologous blood transfusion may cause significant health risks in the athlete if the procedure is not carried out properly or if the blood is not handled or stored in a proper manner. In homologous blood transfusion, another person’s blood may be tainted, thus potentially spreading infectious diseases such as HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C and affecting the athlete’s health. Blood thickening will also occur with blood transfusions, forcing the heart to work harder to pump blood throughout the body. This subsequently leads to an increased risk of several deadly diseases such as heart disease, stroke, and cerebral or pulmonary embolism. Over time, repeated blood transfusions can cause a dangerous buildup of iron in the body. In addition, blood transfusions may cause potential side effects such as allergic reactions, fever, rashes and hives,
Erythropoietin (EPO) is a peptide hormone that is produced naturally in the kidney. EPO acts on the bone marrow to stimulate red blood cell production, thus increasing the levels of red blood cells in the circulatory system. While proper use of EPO is therapeutically significant in the treatment of kidney disease-related anemia, its misuse may cause blood thickening as well. Besides that, potential side effects include hyperkalemia, high blood pressure and mild flu-like symptoms. Meanwhile, autoimmune diseases with serious health consequences may result from the misuse of recombinant human EPO.