The eggs were frozen in 2013 and thawed in 2023. The baby girl was born in January 2024.
A perfectly healthy baby girl, conceived from eggs frozen ten years earlier, was delivered by a 44-year-old woman in Athens.
The woman had frozen her eggs in the spring of 2013. The thawing and fertilization took place in 2023, and the baby girl was born this January.
During all this time, the eggs were stored at the In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) Unit of MITERA Hospital. The thawing and fertilization process was performed at the YGEIA IVF Embryogenesis Unit.
As explained by the woman’s physician, Dr. Ioannis Zervomanolakis, a specialist in Assisted Reproduction, this represents one of the longest recorded periods of egg freezing leading to a live birth both in Greece and internationally, based on published cases.
“It is clearly demonstrated that egg freezing in experienced centers is safe, both for women with medical histories and for women who freeze their eggs at a young age to complete their family planning later,” he added.
According to statistics published in 2022 by the National Authority of Medically Assisted Reproduction (EAIYA), approximately one in four IVF cycles in Greece involves the use of frozen eggs.
In 2019, 5,607 cycles with frozen eggs were performed. These cycles resulted in the birth of 1,584 babies. More than 15,600 cycles with fresh eggs were also carried out, resulting in 1,741 births. Overall, 6.4% of births in Greece occur following assisted reproduction.v