All along, we have always heard that a certain foreign star, in order to have children later, so as to implement "frozen embryos" and other news.
As the only method in the world that can mature and preserve reproductive functions, embryo freezing technology has always been the choice of many career couples.
Especially since the opening of the "comprehensive two-child" policy, many couples have also chosen to awaken frozen embryos to have a second child, and the judicial ethics of frozen embryos have also caused a lot of controversy.
The age difference is 10, but they may be twin siblings
According to media reports, Ms. Chen of Wuhan implemented IVF fertility at the Reproductive Medicine Center of Hubei Provincial People's Hospital as early as 2011, and successfully became pregnant after the first embryo transfer, and also saved another frozen embryo in the Reproductive Medicine Center.
In 2021, with the help of the hospital, Ms. Chen successfully "woke up" the embryos that had been sleeping for 11 years again, so that she could successfully conceive again and give birth to a healthy baby girl before New Year's Day in 2022.
(News screenshot)
Although the younger sister is 10 years younger than her brother, from a medical point of view, they all belong to the same time of egg retrieval and sperm retrieval, belong to the same batch of embryos, and therefore belong to twin siblings.
With the opening of a series of fertility policies, the number of elderly pregnant women has gradually increased, and the number of people who go to the hospital for embryo freezing has also begun to grow, especially friends who have frozen embryos, who are most concerned about the safety and success rate of frozen embryos.
Embryo freezing technology, what kind of technology is it?
The so-called frozen embryo technology, this technology is to save the embryo in liquid nitrogen at minus 196 ° C, so that the embryo is always in a dormant state, until thawed and awakened, and then put into the mother's body to complete the pregnancy.
Will frozen embryos expire?
The frozen embryo technique is to keep the embryos in liquid nitrogen at minus 196 °C, leaving the embryos in a dormant state at all times.
In this state, the life activity of the embryo is almost completely suspended, and no metabolic activity is carried out, so theoretically, the frozen embryo can be stored indefinitely, and the embryo that is frozen for decades is not significantly different from the one that is frozen for just a few years.
This theory has also been verified by facts, and the vast majority of embryos that have been frozen for more than 20 years can return to their initial state after thawing and resume active life activities.
The longest-stored embryo in the world today has been successfully conceived---- embryo frozen in 1992, implanted in the mother's womb after thawing in 2017, and finally developed healthily and was born smoothly, spanning a full 25 years from freezing to birth.
Can all embryos be refrigerated?
In fact, it really isn't.
Before freezing, medical staff need to determine whether there is a quality problem with the embryo before proceeding to whether it needs to be frozen.
In general, if the embryo quality is better, it is suitable for freezing, and the success rate is also higher.
However, if the quality of the embryo itself is not good, there are many fragments before the start of the culture, the number of cells is not enough, or the laboratory level is insufficient, the embryo will inevitably cause damage in the process of freezing and preservation, which will affect the success rate of embryo recovery.
In addition, even if the freezing technique can preserve the embryo for a long time, it is still recommended that women of childbearing age implant embryos as soon as possible to complete the pregnancy, because the incidence of pregnancy complications in elderly pregnant women is generally relatively high.
Even if the risk of birth defects in the frozen embryo itself does not increase, the physical state of the pregnant woman will affect the healthy development of the fetus.
Therefore, pregnant women also need to follow the doctor's advice and carry out various prenatal examinations to give the baby a healthy and good development environment.
It has been nearly forty years since the birth of frozen embryo technology, and hundreds of thousands of babies are born through frozen embryo transfer each year, and the health of these babies is not significantly different from that of babies born naturally.
However, human embryos are special objects with potential life characteristics, and their legal attributes have not yet been clarified, so they also need to be legally respected and protected.
It is worth mentioning that mainland law prohibits the purchase and sale of human cells, human tissues, organs, etc. in any form, and engages in relevant medical and scientific research activities such as gene editing.
So, if you want to rely on frozen embryos for commercial trading, you should give up!