This study was designed to assess the diagnostic accuracy of the percentage of resting systolic wall thickening (WT), dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE), resting cyclic variation of integrated backscatter (IBS-CV), and low-dose dobutamine stress IBS-CV (DSE-IB) for the prediction of regional function recovery (RFR) in patients with chronic left ventricular (LV) ischemic dysfunction. The study also evaluated whether or not global LV function affected the diagnostic accuracy. All studies were conducted before percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) and RFR was assessed after PTCA (mean interval, 10 months) in 30 patients with chronic LV ischemic dysfunction. Patients were divided into 2 groups according to the LV ejection fraction (LVEF): group A, LVEF<40%, n=14; group B, LVEF> or =40%, n=16. Of a total of 480 segments, 37 initially demonstrating akinetic wall motion before PTCA were analyzed. The wall motion of 24 of the 37 segments improved on visual analysis after PTCA. In the prediction of RFR, resting WT, DSE, resting IBS-CV and DSE-IB had sensitivities of 79%, 79%, 92% and 62%, and specificities of 54%, 84%, 83% and 69%, respectively. In particular, the resting IBS-CV in group A, as well as DSE, was an excellent predictor of RFR (sensitivity, 100%; specificity, 86%; vs sensitivity, 82%; specificity, 78%; respectively). Therefore, both resting IBS-CV and DSE are useful predictors for RFR in patients with chronic LV ischemic dysfunction.