Celine Dion was implanted with an eight-year-old embryo. An OB/GYN breaks this down for us.

Celine Dion was implanted with an embryo that had been kept frozen in liquid nitrogen for the past eight years. Is this safe?

We asked OB/GYN Dr. Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz for the scoop.

Dr. Lenz says, "This is actually standard operating procedure. The oldest successful frozen embryo transfer was in Israel in 2004 -- it was 12 years old! This is why we freeze the extras in storage tanks -- for potential later use, not to mention the moral and ethical dilemma created by disposing of unused embryos. It does seem weirdly sci-fi, but it is not that unusual for a couple to go back for another round or more of pregnancies with the thawed-out leftovers -- sort of changes the point of reference on that term, no?"

Dr. Gilberg-Lenz continues, "What is also interesting in this case is that the age-related risks to the pregnancy, such as Down Syndrome and whether or not CVS or amnio would be offered to Celine, are based not on her current age, but on the age at which the embryos were created -- so this actually lowers some of the potential risks to this pregnancy. Points for Ms. Dion!"

Dr. Gilberg-Lenz says there is no evidence of damage or abnormalities increased in frozen embryos, though rates of conception and live births are lower than "fresh transfers" -- rates are about 75-80% of the fresh embryo transfers.

Dr. Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz completed her undergraduate education at Wesleyan University and post-baccalaureate pre-med studies at Mills College. She earned her medical degree from the USC School of Medicine and has been in private practice for 9 years. She is the co-founder of Cedar Sinai Medical Center's Green Committee and lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two children.