To assess whether myocardial stunning occurs after brief periods of ischemia, global and regional ventricular function assessed by radionuclide angiography was studied in 52 patients. Patients were divided into 3 groups according to the type of ischemic episodes. Group 1 consisted of 15 patients studied before, during and after episodes of angina at rest. Seventeen patients studied immediately before and after coronary angioplasty constituted group 2. Group 3 consisted of 20 patients with stable angina studied before, during and after exercise-induced ischemia. Medical therapy was discontinued 48 hours before the study in all patients except those undergoing coronary angioplasty who were receiving diltiazem 180 mg/day. No difference in baseline ejection fraction was found between groups, whereas peak filling rate was statistically lower in group 3 patients. Evidence of left ventricular dysfunction during ischemia was seen in patients in groups 1 and 3, whereas transient ischemia was documented by ST-segment displacement and/or typical chest pain during balloon inflation in group 2. Persistence of systolic or diastolic dysfunction was not observed in any of the 3 groups in the recovery phase after ischemia. In conclusion, transient ischemia caused either by a primary reduction in oxygen supply (angina at rest, coronary angioplasty) or by an increase in oxygen demand (angina on effort) did not reproduce the phenomenon of systolic and diastolic stunning observed in animal experiments, although in all patients the ischemia was of sufficient duration and severity to induce marked ventricular dysfunction. The search for stunned myocardium should be extended to other different clinical models characterized by prolonged ischemia such as unstable angina or myocardial infarction.