SSB Hospital Faridabad Performs Region’s First Implant of Newly Launched Leadless Atrial Pacemaker
A newly launched leadless atrial pacemaker, implanted for the first time in the region at SSB Hospital Faridabad, offers a safer option for elderly patients.
SSB Hospital in Faridabad recently completed a procedure that stands out for both its technical difficulty and its practical importance to patients who often run out of safe options. The hospital has implanted a newly launched, nonsurgical atrial leadless pacemaker, a device so new that only a small number of people worldwide have received it. This is the first time such a pacemaker has been implanted in the region, marking a shift in what cardiac patients in Faridabad can realistically access.
An Elderly Patient in a Difficult Situation
The patient in question, an 80-year-old woman, had been dealing with symptoms that many families recognise but often don’t immediately connect to a serious rhythm disorder such as palpitations, breathlessness, and a recurring sense of fear that had started interfering with her routine. Over six months, the impact grew more noticeable. A detailed assessment at SSB Hospital finally gave a name to what she was experiencing: Tachy-Brady Syndrome, a condition in which the heart alternates between periods of very fast activity and slow, prolonged pauses.
Heart monitoring showed her rate falling to 35–40 beats per minute at times. At that level, even simple activities can become difficult. A pacemaker was not a suggestion; it was the only dependable way to stabilise her rhythm.
Why the Conventional Route Was Not the Best One
Ordinarily, a pacemaker would be placed under the collarbone with leads running inside the heart. But the standard procedure comes with requirements such as a chest incision, a device pocket, and a recovery phase that assumes the patient can handle a certain amount of surgical stress.
This patient had frailty, osteoporosis, diabetes, and was dependent on blood thinners. Each of these increases the risk of bleeding, infection, and wound complications, and together they made a conventional implant more challenging than usual. The team needed something that addressed her rhythm problem without exposing her to avoidable surgical trauma.
A Newly Launched Device That Avoids Chest Surgery Altogether
The option that stood out was the newly launched atrial leadless pacemaker, a small capsule-like device that sits entirely inside the heart. It does not need leads. It does not need a surgical pocket. It is delivered through a tiny puncture in the femoral vein, using a method similar to angiography. For a patient like her, the difference between this method and the traditional one was significant.
Some of the advantages were straightforward but meaningful:
- A small puncture in the leg vein rather than a chest incision
- No pacemaker pocket, reducing chances of infection or bleeding
- No visible scar, which helps psychologically and medically
- A capsule-sized unit that stays inside the heart
- Recovery that allowed her to go home the next day
For the medical team, it offered a way to stabilise her heart rhythm while keeping the procedure as gentle as possible.
A Team Effort, Grounded in Experience
The implantation was performed by SSB Hospital’s cardiologists, Dr S. S. Bansal, Dr Siddhant Bansal and Dr Pankaj Ingole. Their collective experience with complex cardiac work allowed them to weigh the risks and benefits carefully before deciding the new device was the right choice. The procedure was completed successfully, and the patient’s recovery was smooth.
What It Means for Patients in and Around Faridabad
The story matters because patients like her are not rare. Many elderly people live with multiple medical conditions that make standard surgeries harder to tolerate. Some are advised to avoid interventions entirely. Others end up travelling to larger metro cities for options that are not available locally.
With this implantation, Faridabad now has access to a new category of pacing therapy that can help:
- Older patients
- Individuals who are medically fragile
- Those on blood thinners or with bleeding risks
- Patients who cannot undergo chest incisions
By bringing this technology to the region soon after its global launch, SSB Hospital has widened the range of treatments available locally, something that matters more than most people realise until they or their families need it.
A Quiet but Meaningful Step Toward Gentler Cardiac Care
Over the years, cardiac care has been shifting towards approaches that do not rely on large incisions or long recovery periods. The leadless atrial pacemaker fits neatly into that movement. It offers a sense of reassurance to patients who might previously have been told they were too high-risk for a pacemaker.
At SSB Hospital, this first case is likely to serve as the starting point for more such procedures. It reflects a simple but important thought process: when an elderly patient walks in with limited choices, the job is not only to treat the illness, it is to find the safest way to do it.
In this instance, the newly launched device, combined with careful evaluation and skilled execution, offered exactly that.
Note to the Reader: This article has been produced on behalf of the brand by HT Brand Studio and does not have journalistic/editorial involvement of Hindustan Times. The information does not constitute medical/health advice. Readers are strongly advised to consult a registered medical practitioner.
