Multiple recent randomized studies have demonstrated the superiority of drug eluting stents (DES) compared to bare stents for reduction of restenosis rates after angioplasty. We sought to study if the results obtained in these studies with highly selected patients could be translated to patients treated in routine clinical practice. To this end, we retrospectively reviewed hospital charts of 134 consecutive patients treated in our center with 202 DES implantation between November 2002 and January 2004. Thirty nine % of patients had diabetes and 59% had multivessel disease. Coronary lesions were often complex (type B2: 24%, type C: 35%). Mean percent diameter stenosis was 68 +/- 13% with a reference artery diameter of 2.62 +/- 0.5 mm. One patient (0.75%) died in-hospital from cardiogenic shock. At a mean follow-up of 12 +/- 2.6 months, 7 patients (5.3%) died, including 2 extracardiac deaths. Recurrent chest pain occurred in 16 patients (12%), with only 3 (2.3%) in-stent restenosis. Major adverse cardiac event rate was 8.2%. This study confirms that in a non-selected population, the rate of subsequent revascularization after DES implantation is very low. It can be hoped that the indications of implantations will progressively spread with a lowered cost of these DES.