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Dominik M. Wiktor Bellcore, Morristown An electrical engineer, Wiktor underwent open heart surgery to correct an aortic dissection in 1984. Following the procedure, he wondered why such a vascular repair couldn't be done with less surgical trauma, and began to read about angioplasty. He came up with a variety of stent designs and signed a consulting agreement with Medtronic in 1988. The "Wiktor Stent," an intravascular stent (U.S. patent No. 4,886,062) provides an important solution to coronary artery reconstruction and recanalization. The stent keeps a diseased vessel open and prevents reclosure. Made of tantalum, a noncorrosive and malleable metal which is easily seen by the cardiologist during fluoroscopy, the stent is extremely easy to handle, deliver and deploy, which is of the utmost importance in emergency and routine situations. In the case of the Wiktor Stent, the delivering catheter is inflated to expand and deploy the stent to maintain the opening. The balloon is then deflated and the catheter removed. Within a month, the stent becomes incorporated into the artery wall. Today, Medtronics’ Wiktor stent has a 20 percent market share in Europe. Wiktor is a resident of Cranford.