title: Contralateral loop snare removal of a ruptured and entrapped angioplasty balloon.
abstract: We describe a technique that extracted a ruptured angioplasty balloon which had become entrapped by a calcified left common iliac artery stenosis. The balloon catheter had been advanced crossover from the right and could not be retracted directly into a sheath across the aortic bifurcation. Therefore, a guidewire was inserted through the balloon catheter and captured by a loop snare advanced from the left femoral artery. The loop snare was also used to free the balloon wings from the stenosis. The balloon was then pulled into a 10 Fr sheath and removed as a unit with the sheath.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology/Olson Pavilion, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago, IL 60611, USA.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Braun
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: T N
authors.initials: TN
authors.lastname: Merrill
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000800:Angioplasty, Balloon; D003251:Constriction, Pathologic; D004868:Equipment Failure; D005260:Female; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007083:Iliac Artery / Q000473:pathology*; D007383:Intermittent Claudication / Q000628:therapy*