Several investigators demonstrated that severe reduction of colloid osmotic pressure (COP) predicts a fatal outcome in patients with cardiopulmonary failure. To evaluate the clinical significance of COP in relation to pulmonary edema, we studied 117 patients with unstable angina admitted in the hospital within 24 h after the chest pain. The mean COP of all 117 patients was 24.8 +/- 3.7 mmHg. COP was significantly lower in patients with pulmonary edema, according to the chest x-ray findings, compared with the patients without it. Among 26 patients with emergency coronary arteriography, a fairly good correlation was observed between coronary jeopardy score and COP (r = -0.57, p less than 0.005). Furthermore, COP in patients who survived 26 months after the hospital discharge was significantly higher than that of the nonsurvivors. Thus, measurement of COP is advised for monitoring patients with unstable angina.