Catheter-aided extraction of a steel coil accidentally lodged in the right ventricle.

In one case a steel coil similar to the Gianturco coil accidentally lodged in the outflow tract of the right ventricle during the embolization of a pulmonary arteriovenous fistula. Extraction of the coil with an intravascular foreign body retrieval set (Cook Inc., Bloomington Ind.) was unsuccessful because the extraction wire broke. An improvised device was then employed, using a Cordis 8 French multipurpose catheter and a single stainless steel wire designed for surgical osteosynthesis. The steel coil was successfully caught by the device and pulled out via the femoral vein.