Mumbai, Dec 18 (IANS): In a rare medical feat spanning patients across four generations, a four-year-old girl got a new lease of life after her 70-year-old maternal great-grandmother donated a kidney, officials said here on Friday.

The unique double-operation was carried out at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital on November 25, according to Dr. Sharad Sheth, Consultant and Head of Nephrology at KDAH.

The little girl, Aizah Tanvir Qureshi was diagnosed with end-stage renal disease arising out of a complication called Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis, which urgently needed a life-saving kidney transplant, the medico explained.

"Aizah is the sole child of her parents and was rushed here in a serious condition, with facial swelling in the past six months, which kept increasing along with poor appetite, nausea and vomiting. She was diagnosed with severely deranged renal function along with metabolic acidosis and was immediately put on hemodialysis, awaiting a kidney transplant," Dr. Sheth said.

However, in the entire patient's family only her aged maternal great-grandmother, Rabiya Banu M.H. Ansari, was found to be compatible, healthy plus having a matching blood group, and after a thorough medical assessment considering her advanced age, found fit to donate her kidney.

After the successful transplant, both the donor woman and her great-granddaughter have been doing well for the past three weeks, at their home in Byculla, South Mumbai.

While the donor woman was discharged in five days, the recipient girl was allowed to go home after a fortnight, Sheth added.

"It was very painful to see our little Aizah undergo hours of hemodialysis almost every alternate day. We are grateful to the KDAH for giving her an opportunity to lead a normal life like other kids. Her maternal granny came as the saviour for my child," said the child's grateful parents, Nazneen, a housewife and Tanvir Qureshi, a businessman.

The medical teams which performed the operations included Sheth, medicos Sanjay Pandey, Attar Mohammed Ismail and others at the KDAH.

"In my 40 years practice, this is perhaps the most unique and exceptional transplant given the age and relationship of both the donor and the recipient, bridging the huge generation gap to give the child a second lease of life," said Dr. Sheth.