Does a Frozen Embryo Have an Expiration Date?

How long can a frozen embryo be stored before it is implanted into its potential mother? Does a frozen embryo have an effective "use by" date, like most foods?

Recent evidence suggests that frozen embryos could be stored almost indefinitely, it seems. Case in point: a 25-year old woman recently gave birth to a child after receiving an embryo that was conceived and frozen 25 years ago. In other words, the embryo was conceived and frozen in the same year that its birth mother was born!

There are no official databases of when embryos are frozen and subsequently used, and so there's no way of knowing if this is a record of some sort. The couple chose the embryo after reviewing its biological parents' profiles, because they were interested in a child that would look somewhat like themselves. Only later were they made aware of the embryo's age. The embryo came from a faith-based fertility clinic that focuses on saving, not destroying, embryos.

Reproductive scientists are not surprised that embryos remain viable after long-term storage, although there have been no scientific studies carried out to find that out. The available evidence suggests that embryos are at the greatest risk of damage by the thawing procedure, and not by the length of frozen storage.