[Evaluation of the French neonatologists' attitude towards the birth of an infant at less than 26 weeks' gestation]

Abstract

Resuscitation of infants who are born at the threshold of viability remains highly controversial. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the French neonatologists' attitude toward the birth of an infant at less than 26 weeks' gestation (WG).

Method: This article reports the results of a survey sent by the Internet to one of the neonatologists in each of the NICUs in France. The answers showed the different attitudes at the time of the birth of an extremely premature infant born less than 26 WG.

Results: The respondents represented 57 % of the original sample. None resuscitates an infant born between 22 WG+0 days and 22 WG+6 days. During the 23rd WG, the majority answer (90 %) was "Resuscitation is never undertaken". During the 24th WG, the main answer (29 %) was "Resuscitation is undertaken if neonatal adaptation is sufficient". During the 25th WG, several answers were given, but only 6 % chose "Resuscitation is never undertaken".

Conclusion: Analyzing the survey's answers indicates that the decision of whether to resuscitate these premature infants at the threshold of viability must be adjusted not only by gestational age, but also by many other factors.