Echocardiographic evaluation of a single bolus of erythropoietin effects on reducing ischemia-reperfusion injuries during coronary artery bypass graft surgery. A randomized, double blinded placebo control study

Background Erythropoietin (EPO) is known as a regulating hormone for production of red blood cells called Erythropoiesis. Some studies have shown that erythropoietin have some nonhematopoietic protective effects on ischemia-reperfusion injury in myocardial cells. We evaluated the effect of exogenous EPO infusion on reducing ischemia-reperfusion injuries and improvement of cardiac function by echocardiography shortly after coronary artery bypass graft surgery.