Each year athlete's abilities to perform and exceed beyond previous year's seems to increase. Better training methods, better conditioning techniques, and better overall health of the athlete can contribute to this increased ability. However, "some athletes always seem to take it a step further. They engage in a process called blood doping." (Beckham, 2002, www). Blood doping, also called induced erythrocythemia, is an intravenous infusion of blood that produces an increase in the blood's oxygen carrying capacity. The blood doping procedure does increase an athlete's ability, but can potentially do more harm than good in the end. The ethics and safety issues concerning blood doping are very controversial throughout the scientific and athletic communities. .
The procedure to blood dope generally begins several weeks before an athlete's key competition. During this time 1 to 4 units of the athlete's blood is withdrawn. "The blood is then centrifuged and the plasma components are immediately reinfused while the remaining red blood cells are placed in cold storage (Beckham, 2002, www). The units of blood are now considered to be packed RBC's and are either refrigerated at 4 degrees C or frozen at -80 degrees C. Today's scientists recommend the freezing process because the freezing completely halts the aging process of the cells. Freezing can allow the blood to be stored for us to 10 years with only 10% to 15% red blood cell loss. When the athlete is ready to use the blood it is infused back into the body. This reinfusion process is generally done 1 to 7 days before the competition. .
When the process is done correctly it can increase the hemoglobin level and red blood cell count by up to 20%. .
Table 23-4 (Robertson, 1982, 490) .
The chart above shows the hemoglobin concentration remains maximally elevated for at least two weeks after infusion and remains high for two to three months.
