Cardiac specialists at the Aga Khan University Hospital have successfully implanted a leadless pacemaker for the first time in sub-Saharan Africa, a move aimed at expanding treatment options for patients with heart rhythm disorders across the region. Unlike other pacemakers, which require a surgeon to make an incision in the upper chest and insert electrical wires (leads) through veins into the heart, the leadless pacemakers are capsule-sized devices that are delivered directly to the heart through a catheter inserted via a vein in the leg. The first patient who underwent the procedure required a leadless pacemaker because conventional implantation was not feasible due to severe obstruction of the central veins, linked to long-term dialysis access and prior radiotherapy treatment, according to the hospital.