Progression of Analytical Methods

The use of GC/combustion/isotope-ratio mass spectrometry (GC/C/ IRMS) has demonstrated distinguished capabilities to reveal misuse of endogenous steroids such as testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, dehy-droepiandrosterone (DHEA), etc. and was reported for the first time in 1994. The analysis of carbon isotope ratios of steroids in doping control specimens progressively improved, and in 1998 at the 

Olympic Winter Games in Nagano (Japan), the first comprehensive analyses for synthetic endogenous steroids were conducted using an HP6890 GC coupled to an Isoprime IRMS (Micromass, Manchester, UK). 

Polysaccharide-based plasma volume expanders were first analyzed in urine specimens during the Nordic Ski World Championships in Lahti (Finland, 2001) using a GC-MS-based method (HP 5890/5972 GC-MSD). Seven adverse analytical findings were reported and gold, silver, and bronze medals were stripped, all won by Finnish male and female elite athletes. Consequently, the established procedure was also employed at the subsequent Winter Olympic Games in 2002 (Salt Lake City, USA), but ever since, no additional positive case was found although methods were further expanded and improved using LC-MS/MS and MALDI-TOFMS approaches. 

The need for complementary or new methods for doping control purposes is evident and a major task of sports drug testing related research. Continuously, new methods and approaches are developed to expand the portfolio of detection procedures for drugs and methods of manipulation, and currently applied MS-based methods are described in Chapter 6. 

(1965) Sport and Culture, in Doping (eds A. de Schaepdryver and M. Hebbelink), Pergamon Press, Oxford, pp. 1-24. 

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