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[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
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1 4 - 0 4 - 2 0 0 5 KILLED BY CJD FROM BRAIN OP
Apr 14 2005
A YOUNG dad died of CJD 16 years after contracting it during a brain operation, an inquest was told yesterday. Surgeons inserted an artificial repair patch into Simon Stratford's skull containing human tissue from the brains of corpses. And that was what caused the disease, said coroner David Morris. Now Mr Stratford's widow Colleen, 37, is considering legal action. She said: "It is what my husband wanted. He made me promise to do that." Father of four Mr Stratford, of St Neots, Cambs, appeared to make a full recovery after having a tumour on his skull removed in 1987. But he became ill in October 2002 and doctors diagnosed CJD. He died six months later aged 34. Surgeons at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge had used a Lyodura patch to repair a membrane covering the brain. Prof Robert Will, neurologist and founder of the CJD surveillance unit, told the inquest in Huntingdon he knew of 168 similar cases worldwide. Most were in Japan, where researchers looked at 97 cases and in 89 per cent the Lyodura patch was involved. There were seven in Britain and in six the patch was involved. The makers, German firm B Braun, told the hearing in a letter that production was stopped nine years ago because of public controversy over the ethics of using human tissue. Colleen, whose children are aged eight to 15, said later: "Somebody was to blame. We will be looking into what legal action we can take." She added that keen bodybuilder and weightlifter Mr Stratford "was a very strong man and he withered away to a very small man. When he was healthy he weighed about 13 stone and it was solid muscle. When he died he weighed four stone and was bedridden." After 15 years together they married five weeks before he died. "He managed to get out of bed for the wedding at a friend's house. It was the last time he was able to speak." Prof Will said later that CJD contracted during surgery emerged on average nine years later. He said: "I don't think there is any need for people to panic or be frightened if they had surgery in the 1980s. We think most cases have emerged by now. Mr Stratford may well be the last victim in the UK." Verdict: Medical misadventure.
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