Chinese woman gives birth to a baby girl from embryo frozen 18 years ago

Zee Media Bureau

Beijing: A 45-year-old woman in China delivered a healthy baby girl using an embryo frozen 18 years ago, as per media reports.

The infant weighing 3,300 gm, was born in Jiangsu province on Monday.

As per reports, the woman, who suffered from blocked fallopian tubes, received a series of In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) treatments in 1990s, but failed to get pregnant.

The embryo was implanted into her womb in November 2015, Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday.

At the beginning of 2015, she went back to the hospital hoping to have another try. Doctors found that she suffered from hydrosalpinx and a thin endometrium. After a surgery, she had the embryo implanted.

Frozen embryos are stored in liquid nitrogen at minus 196 degrees Celsius. According to the Shanghai health department, the storage life for frozen embryos should be kept within five years.

"In reality, we will continue storing embryos as long as the patients ask us to do," said a medical official.

Following China formally scrapping the one-child policy, there has been an increase in the number of older women seeking fertility treatments in the country.

(With IANS inputs)