TRIAMCINOLONE is "very powerful" corticosteroid used to treat a variety of ailments including allergies and inflammation.

It's been thrust back in the spotlight after Team Sky was today accused of giving it to legendary cyclist Bradley Wiggins for performance enhancing – rather than medical – purposes.

What is triamcinolone and what is it used for?

Triamcinolone is known as a synthetic glucocorticoid which is used to treat anything from eczema and ulcerative colitis to asthma.

Also known as Kenacort and Kenalog, it was once sold under the name Azmacort as an inhaler for long term asthma care, though it could not treat an attack which had already begun.

It can be administered orally, by injection, inhalation or as a topical ointment cream.

The drug is reported to cause several side-effects including sore throats, nosebleeds, increased coughing and – in women – a prolonged menstrual cycle.

Can triamcinolone be used for performance enhancing purposes?

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) banned it from competition "when administered orally, intravenously, intramuscularly or rectally" in its 2014 Prohibited List.

Its effects as a performance enhancer were once laid out by Scottish former professional rider David Millar who won four stages of the Tour de France.

Writing in the New York Times, he confessed to using the Therapeutic Use Exempt (TUE) substance for a "fake tendon issue" and an ankle injury.

"The three times I took Kenacort were also the times I was the lightest I’d been in my career," he said. "Yet I didn't lose power."

What is Bradley Wiggins and Team Sky accused of?

Questions were first raised over Wiggins' use of TUEs, which allow athletes with serious conditions to take banned substances, after his medical history was leaked by hackers in 2016.

The Fancy Bears group revealed files which showed he took six TUEs – including three intramuscular injections of triamcinolone – banned by WADA throughout his career.

Now the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) sports committee says Team Sky gave Wiggins, 37, the anti-inflammatory drug at the 2012 Tour de France (which he won).

"Drugs were being used by Team Sky, within World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) rules, to enhance the performance of riders," the damning report claimed.

It claims Team Sky "abused" the system of "Therapeutic Use Exemption" (TUE) to improve his "power-to-weight ratio" rather than use the drug medically.

Team Sky has "strongly refuted" the claims that "medication has been used by the team to enhance performance"and allegations "of widespread triamcinolone use by Team Sky riders ahead of the 2012 Tour de France".

Meanwhile Wiggins said in a statement: "I find it so sad that accusations can be made, where people can be accused of things they have never done, which are then regarded as facts.

"I strongly refute the claim that any drug was used without medical need. I hope to have my say in the next few days and put to my side across."

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What are the side-effects of triamcinolone?

Patients about to start a course of triamcinolone are required to disclose a number of conditions including diabetes, tuberculosis, kidney disease and glaucoma.

Burning and thinning of skin, blurred vision, weight gain, fatigue and sleeping problems are among the side-effects, according to RX List.

Even Millar, who branded it a "once-a-year drug" because of the stress it puts on the body, said triamcinolone was so powerful it was "ultimately destructive".

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