A 66-year-old man who has a right-sided heart underwent a pacemaker implantation recently at a city hospital.

A doctor who was in the team that performed the procedure said pacemakers are traditionally designed for left-sided hearts as most humans have their hearts slightly on the left side.

Dilip Kumar, the director of Cardiac Cath Lab at Medica Superspecialty Hospital, said installing the pacemaker in the 66-year-old was more complicated than normal pacemaker implantation.

Rejaul Karim, a resident of Basirhat in North 24-Parganas, was born with a left-sided heart.

“But his entire heart and trachea had shifted to the right side of the chest. He has a damaged lung and has been suffering from shortness of breath for years. Recently, he developed a heart block and fainted on a few occasions,” said Kumar, also a senior consultant interventional cardiologist and electrophysiologist at the hospital.

The implantation was done on May 27 and the patient was discharged the next day.

Karim, a fish trader, said he had fainted while offering prayers at a mosque a few times in three or four months. “I fainted when my forehead touched the ground," he said.

Karim said: “I have had no issues after the surgery. I have offered namaz at the mosque but did not faint. The shortness of breath has reduced."

Kumar said a "conduction system pacing" (CSP) was performed on Karim to overcome the unique challenge that his situation presented.

CSP is a pacemaker where the lids are placed near the normal conduction system. In the more common pacemakers, the lids are placed on the heart’s chambers, he said.

“If we had put a normal pacemaker, the outcome would not have been as good. This is more effective," he said.