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Objective: We sought to perform a meta-analysis to evaluate the potential influence of high-dose erythropoietin (EPO) on cardiac function parameters in patients with acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI)., Methods and Results: By searching PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library (up to December 2012), seven randomized controlled trials (RCTs) reporting cardiac functional parameters with a total of 1,250 acute STEMI patients were identified. When applied to patients with acute STEMI, high-dose EPO was relatively safe and no increase in all-caused death and severe adverse effects were indicated. Estimates were pooled from fixed or random effects models. Compared with controls, high-dose EPO resulted in a slight but significant improvement in left ventricular ejection fraction of 1.02 % [95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.17-1.88, P = 0.019, I (2) = 0 %] and an improvement in left ventricular end-systolic volume of -4.61 ml (95 % CI -7.64 to -1.58, P = 0.003, I (2) = 27.7 %)., Conclusions: Available evidence suggested that high-dose EPO has limited cardio-protective effects in patients with STEMI. However, considering the relatively short follow-up durations and small patient populations in the current RCTs, the effects of high-dose EPO on clinical outcomes in patients with STEMI need to be evaluated in larger prospective RCTs of longer duration.