Retrievable versus nonretrievable coils.

I have read with great attention the article written by Chaloupka et al (1) in the August 1996 issue of AJNR. They treated two patients with nonretrievable coils. Although they did not have any complication, I wonder whether it is reasonable to offer a treatment that bears substantial risk of having one coil migrate into the parent vessel without the option of retrieving the coil, or only with great risk if a snare device is used. There are actually different types of retrievable coils on the market and I think that we should not take the risk of treating an aneurysm with nonretrievable coils. I have personally always refused to treat any aneurysm with nonretrievable coils. I waited until I had the opportunity to use the Guglielmi detachable coils (GDCs) (Target Therapeutics, Fremont, Calif), initially as one of the investigators, before these coils became approved by the Food and Drug Administration recently. I am surprised that this article did not address the advantages of using retrievable versus nonretrievable coils.