Healthy baby boy born from embryo frozen 20 years ago

According to medical experts at the Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine at the Eastern Virginia medical school, a baby boy has been born from an embryo frozen 20 years ago.

An embryo that withstood the test of time and culminated into a successful pregnancy offers hope to women who want to delay conception for health reasons and also single women who want to freeze their eggs until they find a suitable partner with whom they want to start a family.

The baby was born to a 42-year-old woman in May after 10 years of unsuccessful fertility treatment in America.

Her doctor, director Sergio Oehninger stated, "She has been going through treatment for a long time. She was a patient here in 2000. She was a persistent lady."

Baby born from a batch of embryos frozen in 1990
The baby was born from a batch of five embryos frozen in 1990. The heterosexual couple who had created the embryo had themselves undergone IVF.

Once they had a baby, the couple had anonymously donated their leftover four embryos for 'adoption' in the American clinic where they were undergoing treatment.

The leftover embryos were frozen when they were one day old and had formed just one cell.

After 19 years and seven months, in August last year only two survived the thaw.

They were allowed to grow in the laboratory for another two days after which they were implanted into the womb of the new mother who is today an ecstatic mother of a healthy baby weighing 6lb 15oz.

This means that the boy just born has a sibling out there somewhere who was conceived at the same time but is 20 years elder to him.

Frozen embryos can survive for nearly 40 years
Although, it is not clear how long embryos can be stored, research has established that the length of time embryos are frozen does not hamper their ability to grow into healthy babies.

Medical experts believe that they may survive for up to 40 years.

The previous record was a baby boy born to a Spanish woman after having been frozen as an embryo for 13 years.

In Britain, frozen embryos of women who are not infertile could be stored for only five years before being destroyed.

However, from last year onwards the lawmakers have extended the period of storage to 55 years.

Sergio Oehninger stated, “We don't want to be thinking about having 40-year-old embryos in the freezer. We would have a new generation that is using embryos of the older generation.”

News of the birth is reported in the medical journal 'Fertility and Sterility.'