Between April 1980 and October 1982, 109 patients underwent attempted transluminal coronary angioplasty (TCA) with a primary success rate of 71,6% (78 patients). Two patients died of complications of TCA and another one died suddenly 3 months after TCA. The socio-professional rehabilitation of the 106 survivors was studied by questionnaire to which 98 subjects (81 men, 17 women; average age 50,2 +/- 9,2 years) replied. Seventy seven patients were working before their coronary disease and 73 (62 men, 11 women; average age 46,4 +/- 9,1 years) replied to the questionnaire (95%). This constituted the study group, the socio-professional outcome or which was compared to that of 37 active patients who underwent single aorto-coronary bypass surgery during the same period. After TCA, 53 patients (73% returned to work, 48 as full time workers, after an average convalescent period of 4 months. Professional rehabilitation depended mainly on the initial result of TCA: 85% after primary success; 40% after failure (p less than 0,001); in the latter case, the rate of return to work improved if the patients had surgery (58%) rather than medical therapy (125%). Similarly, the average age of re-employed patients was lower (46,1 +/- 7,9 years, compared to 49,3 +/- 6,8 years, p less than 0,05). Finally, the patients returning to work usually claimed to be in good or very good health (72% compared to 30% p less than 001). After single aorto-coronary bypass, only 14 patients (38%) returned to work, 8 full-time, after an average 7 months' convalescence. The duration off work before surgery was related to the incidence of re-employment.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)