A bereavement, then a birth, in just a few months. In Greece, Christina Rapti-Tzelepi, 54, is today associated with a feat of reproductive medicine. On Wednesday September 9, 2026, she gave birth to a little girl in Athens after the transfer of an embryo that had been frozen… in March 2004. An embryo belonging to the same series as her own 21-year-old son, who died a year ago.
An embryo preserved since 2004
It all started in 2004. Christina Rapti-Tzelepi and her husband resorted to in vitro fertilization. Several embryos are obtained and stored. One of them is transferred and allows Christina to give birth to a boy, on this first attempt.
A peaceful life passes. But in October 2025, twenty-one years later, tragedy struck the family: their son died in a road accident at the age of 21.
There are then embryos left from this IVF. And an idea quickly emerged among the couple: the mother decided to use one. The transfer was carried out on December 23, 2025, in a private clinic in Athens. The baby, a little girl weighing 3.49 kg, was born on September 9, 2026.
For the parents, this birth occurs in a context where mourning and joy are intertwined. Her husband also describes having faced a real “race against time” to carry this pregnancy to fruition. Because at 54 years old, Christina was in fact at the age limit authorized in Greece to resort to PMA. Suffice to say that the emotion was there.
Even frozen for 22 years, an embryo does not age
Age, on the other hand, has no influence on an embryo preserved for more than two decades, thanks to cryopreservation. Concretely, the embryo is frozen then preserved in liquid nitrogen at very low temperature. Its biological development is then interrupted: it therefore does not age like a living organism.
In this specific case, the embryo had been cryopreserved on March 17, 2004, then transferred on December 23, 2025. Evening 22 years, five months and 23 days later.
In France, it’s the same thing. The Biomedicine Agency specifies that the conservation of embryos is technically not limited in time, although it recommends not waiting too long before scheduling a transfer.
But pregnancy at 54 carries more risks
The pregnancy, however, was tricky. Using an embryo created years previously does not eliminate the risks linked to the age of the woman carrying the pregnancy.
With maternal age, the risks of gestational diabetes, high blood pressure and preeclampsia increase. Obstetric complications, premature births and certain interventions, notably cesarean sections, are also more common in very late pregnancies.
As Dr. Ghada Hatem reminded True Medical, “the mother, because of her age, is more at risk of hypertension or gestational diabetes, which can lead to premature induction.
Dr Jonas Benguigui, obstetrician-gynecologist, also insisted on the fact that the risks are not limited to chromosomal anomalies (more frequent in the case of “natural pregnancy” but a priori not in the case of embryo transfer):
“Apart from chromosomal risks, any late pregnancy presents numerous risks. Next, we do not really know the long-term consequences for the child, whether medical, psychiatric or social.”
However, two things must be distinguished: the age of the woman at the time of pregnancy and the age of the oocytes at the time of their collection.
An impossible case in France according to our bioethics rules
Despite progress in procreation, could we also in France hope to have a new pregnancy by IVF at 50? The answer is no.
In France, the Public Health Code provides that embryo transfer can be carried out until the 45th birthday of the woman who intends to carry the child. The limit is also set at 60 years for the member of the couple who is not carrying the child. Another important difference: in France, egg retrieval for ART can be carried out until the 43rd birthday.
This means that a woman could have had embryos frozen when she was much younger, but she could not wait until age 54 to have them transferred to France.
The age of the embryo is therefore not the problem: it is the age of the woman at the time of transfer which is legally decisive.
A medical feat, but a very special case
This Greek birth shows above all that an embryo can remain viable after an extremely long period of cryopreservation.
However, it does not mean that a woman can “pause her biological clock”. The embryo can be preserved, but the body which will carry the pregnancy continues to age.
In France, such a birth at age 54 from an embryo preserved for 22 years would therefore not be possible within the legal framework of AMP. Transfer would be prohibited beyond the 45th birthday, even if the embryo had been created when the woman was much younger.
Beautiful story, or sad story, the little girl born in Athens will therefore remain an exceptional case both on a medical and family level. A myth, like Greece can produce.