We report a 50-year-old woman with a large supraophthalmic aneurysm. An attempt was made to treat this by endovascular occlusion of the distal internal carotid artery with coils but they could not be placed satisfactorily. During withdrawal a coil became stuck, stretched and finally detached inside the guiding catheter. It was salvaged easily with a balloon retriever technique. This seems to be a useful way to remove stretched coils.