While optimal medical therapy improves prognosis in a significant number of patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD), revascularization either by percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is often required. This may be to reduce symptoms and/or improve prognosis in certain subgroups using PCI. Drug-eluting stents (DES) have been shown to reduce in-stent restenosis and target-vessel revascularization compared with bare-metal stents. This has led to the hypothesis that outcomes after multivessel coronary stenting with DES might be comparable to surgical revascularization for some patient groups. We review the evidence for medical therapy in CAD, and assess when patients should be considered for PCI or CABG, DES, and the risks associated with DES implantation...