Hair Steroid Testing

Overview

The use of anabolic steroids was officially banded in the mid-1970s by world sports authorities. The first control of anabolic steroids (particularly metandienone found in Dianabol) was achieved in Montreal in 1976 during the Olympic games.

The official detection of anabolic steroid misuse in sports is based on the analysis of urine samples. However, some athletes take long-term treatment of anabolic steroids during the winter month and stop before the competition, or will take them for periods ranging from four to 18 weeks, alternating with drug-free periods of one month to one year.

This is the reason why abusers can be found drug-free. Traditionally, anabolic steroids are detectable in urine only two to four days after exposure, except for ester forms found in the Trimega Hair Steroid test.

Bouncers sometimes use steroid for size, which can also cause unnecessary aggression when dealing with clients. Children sometimes use the drug to play better sport or simply look bigger due to peer pressures.

Hair specimens have been used for 20 years in toxicology to document long-term exposure in the various forensic, occupational and clinical situations and now as medical science evolves Trimega Laboratories have launched the UK's FIRST ever Steroid Hair Test. We believe, like the success of the patent pending Trimega Hair Alcohol Test based on FAEE markers, the new steroid test will become the defacto standard in testing for steroids.


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Chromatogram obtained after extraction by the established procedure
of a 45.3-mg hair of an athlete By Dr. Pascal Kintz


Urinalysis vs. Hair steroid testing
  Urine Testing Hair Testing
Drugs All, except some peptidic hormones All, except hormones
Major compound Metabolites Parent drug
Detection period 2-5 days, except anabolic steroids Weeks - months
Type of measure Incremental Cumulative
Screening Yes No
Invasiveness High Low
Storage -20°C Ambient temperature
Risk of false negative High Low
Risk of false positive Low Undetermined
Risk of adulteration High Low
Control material Yes Needed
 
  • Anabolic Steroids
  • Testosterone
  • Epitestosterone
  • DHEA
  • Testosterone-d3
  • Nandrolone
  • Nandrolone-d3
  • Metenolone
  • Mesterolone
  • 19-Norandrostenedione
  • 19-Norandrostenediol
  • Boldenone
  • Metandienone

Hair Steroid Testing

The current rules governing 'doping' in sport, detail that a doping violation is deemed to occur on the finding in a body a prohibited substance, a metabolite of a prohibited substance, or a compound chemically or pharmacologically related to a prohibited substance.

In most cases, urine is the specimen of choice, but recombinant human erythropoietin and related compounds or hormones can be detected in blood. To date, hair is not accepted in doping control, although France passed in 2001 a law allowing biologists to use this matrix to document doping (décret n˚ 2001-35 from 11 January 2001).

The major practical advantage of hair testing compared with urine or blood testing for drugs is that it has a larger surveillance window (weeks to months, depending on the length of the hair shaft, against two to four days for most xenobiotics).

Who can use this service?

  • Sporting agents
  • Football clubs
  • Concerned parents
  • Security sector
  • Nightclub owners
  • Law enforcement

Why Trimega?

  • Cost effective: Competitive pricing policy
  • Meeting deadlines: Results available within 7-10 business days from receipt of sample
  • Dedicated client services' team, providing exceptional quality service
  • Simple fast instruction process
  • Hassle-free service: Fully co-ordinated sample collection service
  • FREE sample collection materials
  • Split-invoicing if requested
  • Certified to ISO 9001: 2000 UK quality management systems in accordance with UKAS standards