MicroNester coils as an adjunct to endovascular embolization.

Objectives/background: In June 2003, detachable balloons were removed from the US market and were supplanted with coil embolization for parent artery sacrifice in difficult or nonsurgical aneurysms and other vascular pathologies. The current series examines the use of MicroNester pushable coils (Cook Medical, Bloomington, IN) as a low-cost and effective adjunct to detachable coils in the treatment of selected neurovascular pathologies.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of all patients undergoing neurointerventional procedures from November 2003 through May 2008 was performed to identify patients in whom MicroNester coils were used as part of treatment.

Going viral: fusiform vertebrobasilar and internal carotid aneurysms with varicella angiitis and common variable immunodeficiency.

Intracranial aneurysms in the pediatric population are relatively rare entities. Immunocompromised patients (often from HIV/AIDS or pharmacological immunosuppression) represent a significant fraction of children with cerebral aneurysms. One proposed mechanism of aneurysm formation in these patients is from direct infection of the affected arteries.