The major physiologic function of EPO is thought to be the induction of erythropoiesis. However, a growing body of evidence indicates that EPO has tissue-protective effects and prevents tissue damage during ischemia. In an ex vivo proof-of-concept, protective effects of EPO have been shown in human myocardium.~Several studies have demonstrated that acute normovolemic hemodilution before aortic cross clamping decreases perioperative myocardial damage. We hypothesized that the onset of acute anemia increases the endogenous EPO concentration, which explains the cardioprotective effects of acute normovolemic hemodilution.
Several studies have highlighted the cardioprotective effects of acute normovolemic hemodilution during cardiac surgery. The aim of our study is to show that an increase in endogenous erythropoietin (EPO) might explain the cardioprotective effects of acute normovolemic hemodilution against ischemia-reperfusion phenomena.