Erythropoietin has lately been shown to exert others than merely hematopoietic functions. Due to attenuation of cell apoptosis and necrosis and/or enhancing neovascularisation, erythropoietin could be protective after myocardial ischemia and reperfusion and lead to infarct size reduction and improvement in left ventricular function. In a controlled clinical trial, short-term administration of erythropoietin in patients with ischemic stroke was associated with a significantly better functional recovery, with a lower level of circulating damage markers and a strong trend to smaller infarct sizes measured by magnetic resonance imaging. While leaving hematocrit and platelet counts unchanged, short-term administration of erythropoietin was shown to be safe and very well tolerated (no side effects reported or observed). The protective effects of short-term erythropoietin in acute ischemic brain damage are further evaluated in an ongoing multi-center trial in Germany. Considering the preclinical and clinical data erythropoietin is an attractive candidate to be evaluated in patients with acute myocardial infarction. In a pilot trial enrolling 22 patients with acute myocardial infarction short-term administration of erythropoietin was shown to be safe and to significantly increase the level of endothelial progenitor cells after percutaneous coronary intervention. However, the very small population did not allow evaluating the benefit in left ventricular function or clinical outcomes.