Sirolimus eluting stent implantation for patients with multivessel disease: rationale for the Arterial Revascularisation Therapies Study part II (ARTS II).

I n-stent restenosis and the need of repeat revascularisation remain the major limitations of coronary angioplasty for patients with multivessel disease. 2 Utilisation of drug eluting stents in this context is expected to have a major impact on the effectiveness of percutaneous treatment. Sirolimus eluting stent implantation has recently been shown to significantly reduce coronary restenosis, with zero angiographic restenosis 4 and persistent long term neointimal inhibition. Moreover, sirolimus eluting stents were proven to be as safe as bare metal stents at 30 days in a group of patients with acute coronary syndromes and a high frequency of multivessel disease. However, currently the effect of this device on long term outcomes of patients with multivessel disease is largely unknown.