13 patients with ischaemic heart disease and 8 healthy subjects underwent exercise testing and transesophageal atrial pacing. Alternations in plasma noradrenaline, adrenaline as well as systolic and diastolic blood pressure were determined. Mean plasma noradrenaline significantly increased after exercise effort in both groups of patients and it significantly correlated with the increase in systolic blood pressure. The essential increase in mean plasma noradrenaline was found after atrial pacing but the degree of increment was significantly higher after the exercise testing in both groups. The plasma adrenaline level showed a significant increase only during exercise in the ischaemic group. Considering to a more noticeable adrenergic response it can be concluded that exercise test is a more helpful method in diagnosis of ischaemic heart disease than transesophageal atrial pacing.