Fifty-eight patients with angina-like chest pain had esophageal manometric testing. Forty-three had no evidence of coronary artery disease at the time of referral or at subsequent contact; 15 patients were proven to have coronary artery disease. High-amplitude contraction waves were the most frequently found manometric abnormality (15 patients). Less frequent were increased duration of contractions, achalasia, and diffuse esophageal spasm; the latter was present in only 3 patients. An approach to the interpretation of information obtained during manometry is presented. Using this approach, the esophagus was strongly implicated as the cause of the pain in 20 patients and was suspect in 18 others. Seven patients had results that exonerated the esophagus, and in the 13 remaining individuals, the esophagus was probably not the offending organ.