A total of 66 patients with advanced coronary artery disease (CAD) and 36 with dilated cardiomyopathies (DCM) with ejection fractions less than 20% were analyzed retrospectively to establish patterns of wall motion in each of four quadrants on standard left anterior oblique gated radionuclide ventriculograms. In both disease states the best preserved wall motion was found in the basal free wall quadrant of the left ventricle. The two terminal disease states could not be differentiated on the basis of wall motion patterns.