Greek couple welcomes daughter after 22-year embryo freeze
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Cristina Rapti‑Tzelepi and Constantinos Raptis, a couple from Greece, recently welcomed a daughter born from an embryo frozen for 22 years.
The couple made this decision shortly after the death of their 21-year-old son in a car accident, seeking a way to continue their family. Rapti‑Tzelepi faced a time constraint because of a Greek law limiting in vitro fertilisation procedures to women aged 54 and under.
She had only two and a half months to complete the process and gain approval from the national authority. Despite the stress, the couple successfully gave birth to Georgia, a baby girl weighing 3.49kg, in Athens. The use of an embryo frozen for over two decades is unusual, though another couple in Ohio achieved a similar birth with an embryo frozen for more than 30 years.
Dr Kostas Pantos, the couple’s gynaecologist, believes Greece’s age restrictions on IVF should be reconsidered, given the country’s declining birth rate. The couple plans to honor their late son, Giorgos, and may seek to have more children, potentially by receiving treatment outside of Greece.
