OBJECTIVE Our objective was to determine the presence of silent myocardial ischemia and the degree of coronary obstructions. METHODS Successively patients with myocardial infarction. METHODS Patients admitted to the coronary intensive care, later followed in a specialised out-patients consultation. METHODS 62 patients with previous myocardial infarction. METHODS All the patients were submitted to Holter-monitoring and coronary angiography. RESULTS Silent ischemia was present in 14 (22,6%) of the patients. Seven of these (50%) had 3 vessels disease, 2 (14,3%) had 2 vessels disease, and 5 (35,7%) had 1 vessel disease. Twelve of the patients (86%) had occlusive lesions (greater than 90%), localised in 11 (79%) in the third proximal segment of the artery. CONCLUSIONS Our results showed that the presence of silent myocardial ischemia was predominantly associated with 3 vessels disease, and with lesions of more than 90% of occlusion, localised in the 1/3 proximal of the vessel. Patients with previous myocardial infarction and silent ischemia may belong to a subgroup with surgical indication. And so, Holter studies in these patients should be followed by angiographic studies for localization of the obstructive lesions.