Seventy-nine patients with ischemic mitral regurgitation were followed up for a period of 20 +/- 8 months. The risk of death increased with age and cardiac failure at the time of inclusion. The risk of cardiac events increased with these factors and also with raised serum creatinine and decreased echocardiographic fractional shortening. The global 2 year survival was 72.8% and survival without a further cardiac event was 48.7%. Surgery and angioplasty increased global survival and freedom from cardiac events of patients with severe regurgitation (74.9% and 68.8% versus 59.4% and 46.1% for medical therapy alone). The functional improvement was also greater in patients undergoing surgery or angioplasty (80% of patients in NYHA Stage I versus 53.8% in the medical group). Angioplasty was only performed in cases of paroxysmal mitral regurgitation by reversible papillary muscle ischemia. Surgery (coronary bypass usually associated with mitral valve replacement) was associated with better results than medical therapy alone in permanent mitral regurgitation by papillary muscle dysfunction or rupture. Despite a high immediate mortality, this option should be considered rapidly in cases of severe ischemic mitral regurgitation with pulmonary oedema.