A well-developed collateral circulation is frequently observed in patients with total coronary occlusion. However, the fate of the collateral circulation after successful percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) has not been fully characterized. The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of coronary angiography and myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) in the evaluation of the collateral circulation after PTCA and to assess the temporal changes of the collateral circulation after successful PTCA of a totally occluded artery by using these 2 diagnostic methods. The study group was comprised of 20 consecutive patients (16 male, mean age 54 years) who underwent elective PTCA for total coronary occlusion. Coronary angiography was performed before, immediately after, and 24 hours after PTCA. MCE was also performed before, immediately after, and 24 hours after PTCA, by the intracoronary injection of sonicated radiographic contrast medium. According to the angiographic findings, the collateral circulation was graded on a scale of 0 to 3 as follows: 0 = no visible filling; 1 = collateral filling of side branches; 2 = partial collateral filling of the epicardial artery; 3 = complete filling of the epicardial artery. By MCE, myocardial perfusion by the collateral circulation was assessed by scoring the contrast pattern of collateral-dependent myocardial segments as follows: 0 = none; 0.5 = patchy or epicardial; 1 = homogeneous. The left anterior descending artery was occluded in 12 patients and the right coronary artery in 8 patients. Coronary angiographic collateral grades before PTCA were grade 2 in 5 patients and grade 3 in 15. PTCA with stenting was successfully performed in all patients without significant residual stenosis. Coronary angiography showed collateral circulation disappeared after PTCA in all patients. However, residual collateral perfusion was observed in 7 patients by MCE, performed immediately after PTCA (score 1 in 3 patients; score 0.5 in 4 patients). This residual collateral perfusion could be demonstrated even 24 hours after PTCA by MCE in 3 patients (all patients were 0.5 in myocardial perfusion score). In conclusion, successful PTCA with stenting of a totally occluded coronary artery leads to a disappearance of collateral vessels by coronary angiography in most of the patients. However, although angiographically not visible, coronary collateral circulation may persist even 24 hours after successful PTCA of a totally occluded artery demonstrated by MCE.