Blood doping involves boosting the number of red blood cells through blood transfusions, injections of erythropoietin (EPO), or injections of synthetic oxygen carriers in order to improve athletic performance. It allows more oxygen to be transported to working muscles, increasing endurance. However, it poses health risks like heart attack, stroke, and infections. While blood transfusions and EPO injections have no medical uses, synthetic oxygen carriers are sometimes used in emergencies when blood transfusions are not possible.

1. Blood Doping

2. • Blood doping is the practice of
boosting the number of red blood
cells in the bloodstream in order to
enhance athletic performance.
Because such blood cells
carry oxygen from the lungs to
the muscles, a higher concentration
in the blood can improve an
athlete’s aerobic capacity (VO2 max)
and endurance.

3. Types of Blood Doping
• The three widely used types of blood doping
are:
• blood transfusions
• injections of erythropoietin (EPO)
• injections of synthetic oxygen carriers

4. Blood transfusions.
• In normal medical practice, patients may
undergo blood transfusions to replace blood
lost due to injury . Transfusions also are given
to patients who suffer from low red blood cell
counts caused by anemia, kidney failure, and
other conditions or treatments.
• Illicit blood transfusions are used by athletes
to boost performance. There are two types.

5. Autologous transfusion
• This involves a transfusion of the
athlete's
own blood, which is drawn and then
stored for future use.

6. Homologous transfusion.
• In this type of transfusion, athletes use the
blood of someone else with the same blood
type.
• Donated blood

7. EPO injections.
• . EPO is a hormone produced by the
• kidney. It regulates the body‘s production of
red blood cells.
• In medical practice, EPO injections are
given to stimulate the production of red blood cells. For
example, a synthetic EPO can be used to treat patients with
anemia
related to chronic or end-stage kidney disease.
• Athletes using EPO do so to encourage their bodies to
produce higher than normal amounts of red blood cells to
enhance performance

8. Synthetic oxygen carriers
• . These are chemicals that have
the ability to carry oxygen. Two examples are:
• HBOCs (hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers)
• PFCs (per fluorocarbons)
• Synthetic oxygen carriers have a
legitimate medical use as
emergency therapy.
It is used when a patient needs a
blood transfusion but:
• human blood is not available
• there is a high risk of blood infection
• there isn't enough time to find the
• proper match of blood type

9. Side-Effects of Blood Doping
• Increased blood viscosity (thickness) , Heart attack
• Stroke, Infections
• Risk hepatitis C, B and HIV)
• Fever, hypertension,
• vasoconstriction,
• impaired oxygen delivery to tissues,
• kidney damage
• Chest pain
• fever
• headache
• increased blood pressure
• shortness of breath
• swelling of the face, fingers.
• weight gain

10. Effects on Performance
• Blood doping is most commonly
used by endurance athletes,
such as distance runners and
cyclists. By increasing the number
of red blood cells within the
blood (and so increasing the
haematocrit), higher volumes of the
protein haemoglobin are present.
Haemoglobin binds to and carries
Oxygen from the lungs, to the muscles where
it can be used foraerobic respiration.
Blood doping therefore allows extra Oxygen to be
transported to the working muscles,
resulting in a higher level of performance,
without the use of the anaerobic energy systems.
• Studies have shown that blood doping can improve
• the performance of endurance athletes

11. Medical Uses of Blood Doping
• Artificial Oxygen carriers are the only form of
blood doping which have a medical use. They
were developed for use in emergencies when
there is no time for determining and cross-
matching a patients blood-type for
transfusion, when there is a high risk of
infection, or simply when no blood is available