does the combination of erythropoietin and tapered oral corticosteroids improve recovery following iatrogenic nerve injury introduction the reported prognosis for recovery after peripheral nerve injury is remarkably poor deficits may persist for years resulting in significant functional disability both corticosteroids and erythropoietin have been investigated as neuroprotective agents however their efficacy in total hip and knee arthroplasty is not known the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of systemicallyadministered erythropoietin and tapered oral corticosteroids on the recovery of postoperative nerve palsies in the setting of total hip and knee arthroplastymethods eleven patients sustaining postoperative peripheral nerve injuries after total hip or knee arthroplasty were treated acutely with erythropoietin and tapered oral steroids motor and sensory function was assessed clinically pre and postoperatively until complete motor recovery or for a minimum of 1 yearresults motor loss was complete in seven 64 patients and partial in four 36 seven 64 patients symptoms affected the common peroneal nerve distribution and four 36 had concomitant tibial nerve involvement eight 73 patients experienced full motor recovery at an average of 39 days range 3133 days and three 27 had nearcomplete motor recovery at final follow up no patient required assistive devices for ambulationconclusions administration of erythropoietin coupled with oral tapered steroids for patients sustaining iatrogenic nerve injuries in total hip and knee arthroplasty demonstrated faster and more complete recovery of motor and sensory function compared to previous reports in the literature this study highlights the importance of further investigation to define the role of each in the setting of acute postoperative nerve palsieslevel of evidence therapeutic level iv see instructions for authors for a complete description of levels of evidence