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Published:
Journal of Analytical Toxicology,
ISSN 0146-4760,
Volume 26, Number 8, November/December,
pp. 582-583
CASE REPORT: A Single Therapeutic Treatment with Betamethasone
is Detectable in Hair
Jean-Sébastien Raul*, Vincent Cirimele,
Bertrand Ludes, and Pascal Kintz
Institut de Médecine Légale, 11, rue Humann, F– 67000 Strasbourg,
France
Because of their anti-inflammatory properties and their action
on cell regeneration, corticosteroids are used by some athletes to increase
their physical resistance and for their euphoric properties. Therefore, the
International Olympic Committee has included synthetic corticosteroids in the
list of restricted classes of substances. Their use is banned in sport except
for topical use (not including rectal use), intra-articular or local injection,
or inhalation. A medical prescription must be produced before the competition
to document the treatment. The mandatory procedure in drug testing for doping
agents is the screening of urine samples using mass spectrometry techniques.
Recently, hair testing has been proposed to increase the length of a detection
window of a particular doping agent, giving evidence of chronic use. Hair analysis
may be of interest to demonstrate long-term abuse. However, a question of critical
importance is the determination of the minimal amount of drug detectable in
hair after administration (1). If an athlete tests positive for a doping agent
and claimes to have only taken it therapeutically, it is of great interest to
have the opportunity to perform a hair test to document the case. Nevertheless,
not finding a doping agent in hair seems insufficient to clear an athlete. Therefore,
the evaluation of the threshold dose for the detection of corticosteroids in
hair is of major importance, giving the opportunity to argue between a single
treatment and long-term abuse.
Until now, no identification of corticosteroids has been published in hair of
a subject having a single short-term treatment.
The aim of our study was to identify betamethasone in the hair of a patient
treated with Celestene® (betamethasone, 2 mg) for skin disease. Urine samples
were collected at the same time.
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