Introduction and objectives. Diabetic patients frequently have small-diameter vessels, which increases their risk of restenosis. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of sirolimus-eluting stent implantation in these high-risk patients following percutaneous coronary intervention. Methods. Our study population comprised a subset of 85 diabetic patients from the DIABETES (DIABETes and sirolimus Eluting Stent) trial who had very small vessels, defined as those with a reference diameter ≤2.25 mm. In the 100 lesions treated, 49 sirolimus-eluting stents and 51 bare-metal stents were used. Glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors were used as recommended by the protocol and dual antiplatelet therapy was administered for 1 year. Results. Baseline clinical and angiographic characteristics were comparable in the two groups. The patients' mean age was 66 (9) years, 42% were women, and 37% were insulin-dependent. On average, the lesion length was 15.0 (9.0) mm and the reference diameter was 1.9 (0.2) mm. At 9-month follow-up, both late lumen loss and the restenosis rate were significantly lower in the sirolimus-eluting stent group than in the bare-metal stent group, at -­0.03 (0.3) mm vs 0.44 (0.5) mm (P<.001), and 9.1% vs 39.1% (P=.001), respectively. These differences were also observed in the subgroup of insulin-dependent patients. At 1-year follow-up, the stent thrombosis rate was 0% in the sirolimus-eluting stent group, whereas two patients in the bare-metal stent group presented with stent thrombosis. Conclusions. Sirolimus-eluting stent implantation in diabetics with very small vessels is safe and effective, even in insulin-dependent patients.