Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 24, 2026
OP-IVM: Combining In vitro Maturation after Oocyte Retrieval with Gynecological Surgery
Published on: May 9, 2021
Successful live birth from oocytes after more than 14 years of cryopreservation
María Fernanda Urquiza1, Inés Carretero, Paola Rita Cano Carabajal
1Halitus, Instituto Médico, Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina, fernanda.urquiza@halitus.com.
Objective:
To report a birth of a healthy girl after long-term oocyte cryopreservation by slow cooling in sodium depleted medium.
Design:
Clinical application.
Setting:
University Affiliated, Private IVF center.
Patient:
A 38-year-old woman received embryos from IVF by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) with her own oocytes that were cryopreserved by slow freezing in a low-sodium medium 14 years and 6 months before, when she was 24 years old.
Main Outcome Measure(S):
Survival, fertilization, cleavage, clinical pregnancy and delivery.
Result(S):
From six metaphase-II oocytes thawed, two survived, one was fertilized after ICSI and a cleaving embryo was transferred on day 3. A single term pregnancy was achieved, ending with the delivery of a healthy girl.
Conclusion(S):
Cryopreservation after slow freezing in a sodium depleted medium maintained the developmental competence of oocytes after long-term storage and resulted in a successful live birth. As far as is known, this case represents, up to date, the longest storage period of cryopreserved human oocytes resulting in a live birth.
