Aggiungo un'interpretazione diversa, alla luce di quanto riscontrato in rete.

Potrebbe trattarsi di un tipo di stent chiamato "shield" che serve a rinforzare la parete dell'arteria in presenza di una placca critica.

In commercio esiste una versione chiamata "vProtect Luminal Shield".

Riporto una domanda molto esplicativa trovata nel primo dei due siti sotto indicati:

Can you tell us more about the **vProtect Luminal Shield** and its potential for use in vulnerable plaque?

This device is designed to treat vulnerable plaque. Let’s say a patient comes to the cath lab with a lesion that is angiographically non-obstructive, perhaps 40-50%, and has no indication for intervention. One could use a detection modality such as infra-red technology or IVUS/OCT. Perhaps we find the patient has a thin-cap fibroatheroma in the proximal left anterior descending artery (LAD). If one could prove there is some prediction value in any of the imaging techniques currently under development, we could potentially design a primary prevention study using a device like the ***vProtect, and “shield” or exclude this lesion****, potentially changing the natural history of the disease. But we are not there yet. The first logical step is trying to use this device in situations where a vulnerable plaque has become very symptomatic, such as acute coronary syndromes. However, that focus does not preclude the use of this technology in day-to-day lesions, because at the end of the day, ***it is a stent***, and on top of that, ***has some biomechanical properties that make this device a good candidate for a drug-eluting stent platform as well***.

Da:

http://www.cathlabdigest.com/articles/A-Self-Expandable-Niti...

Anche queste slide possono chiarire di che dispositivo si tratta:

http://www.summitmd.com/pdf/pdf/090626_aps09_930.pdf