With speckle tracking echocardiography(STE), we sought;1)to assess the feasibility of applying ���diastolic stunning��� to differentiating ischemia-derived and non-ischemia-derived chest pain, and 2)to examine the effect of statin on post-ischemic regional diastolic stunning. 19 Pts with variant angina(VA) and 12 normal controls were enrolled. EchoCG was performed before and 1 day after coronary angiography(CAG) with ergonovine provocation. Radial systolic(rSRsys) and diastolic(rSRdia) strain rates were obtained and averaged with standard segment models corresponding to the 3 major coronary territories assigned. No significant changes in rSRsys and rSRdia were observed for controls and in rSRsys for VA. rSRdia for VA showed a weak, but significant decline from -2.3/sec before to -2.0/sec(p=0.003) 1 day after CAG. However, because of the wide overlap between rSRdia values in normal and ischemic segments for VA, predictability of remote ischemia only based on the rSRdia was limited. Subgroup analysis according to statin prescription showed that statin administration contributed to the elimination of rSRdia reduction(Figure). rSRsys showed no changes in all situations. In conclusion, the presence and sustained nature of regional diastolic stunning was demonstrated with STE. Statin minimized the occurrence of regional diastolic stunning after an acute ischemic insult. However, its clinical utility requires further consideration, given the brevity of the ischemia provoked during CAG with ergonovine and the protracted regional diastolic stunning observed.