Technical aspects of the provisional side branch stenting strategy.

Provisional side branch (SB) stenting is the recommended treatment strategy in the vast majority of bifurcation lesions. Over the past 10 years, advances in fundamental knowledge have led to a better understanding and to improvements of this technical approach. This strategy has reached maturity, and long-term clinical results are now comparable to those of non-bifurcation lesions. This paper describes in detail simple rules and tips and tricks which may help physicians in daily practice to use provisional side branch (SB) stenting as the gold standard treatment for the majority of bifurcation lesions.