The various techniques and devices that have been proposed for the treatment of coronary bifurcation lesions have differing levels of complexity and each has one or more limitations. Two highly complementary ex vivo methods are available to study the treatment of bifurcation lesions: in vitro and virtual bench testing. Both methods can be used to develop, evaluate and optimise bifurcation stenting techniques and dedicated devices. The basics, the evolution, the advantages and limitations of both methods are discussed in this paper. Subsequently, a literature overview of the main insights gained from ex vivo testing in the field of bifurcation stenting is given.