Woman gives birth using embryo frozen for over 22 years

In Athens, a 54-year-old woman, Christina Rapti-Tzelepi, has given birth to a healthy baby girl weighing 3,490 grams. The pregnancy was achieved through the transfer of an embryo that had been cryopreserved for 22 years, 5 months, and 23 days, having been frozen on March 17, 2004. The embryo transfer took place at a private clinic on December 23, 2025.

According to the medical team, this case marks the longest known duration of autologous genetic material cryopreservation leading to a successful live birth worldwide, surpassing previous records of 18 years and 3 months in Japan and 17 years in Israel. The team is currently finalizing the clinical and laboratory data for submission to international scientific journals.

This birth carries a significant emotional context. The mother previously had a son in 2004 following a similar embryo transfer, but the family tragically lost the 21-year-old in a road accident in October 2025. The scientific community is now preparing a full report on the medical achievement to document the viability of long-term cryopreservation.