Use of wire as a snare for endovascular retrieval of displaced or stretched coils: rescue from a technical complication.

INTRODUCTION: The displacement or stretching of coils during coiling of cerebral aneurysms is not an unusual technical complication, thus causing potentially disastrous consequences. Here, a simple technique using a wire as a snare for the removal of displaced and stretched coils is described.
METHODS: The simple wire technique was used to remove a coil displaced in the distal M2 that a microsnare had failed to capture and another coil stretched during the coiling of cerebral aneurysms.
RESULTS: The displaced coil lodged in the distal small cerebral vessel was entwined and removed using a microwire that was shaped manually as a pigtail at the tip. To retrieve the stretched coil, where a proximally stretched portion of the coil still remains in the delivery catheter with the distal portion placed in the aneurysm, a guidewire with a J-shaped tip was used. The coil was hooked and entwined by twisting this wire tip, which could be removed without difficulty.
CONCLUSION: This simple technique using a wire as a snare could be a useful method for removing displaced or stretched coils in selected cases.