Initial resuscitation and stabilization of the periviable neonate: the Golden-Hour approach

There is a paucity of data to support recommendations for stabilization and resuscitation of the periviable neonate in the delivery room. The importance of delivery at a tertiary center with adequate experience, resuscitation team composition, and training for a periviable birth is reviewed. Evidence for delayed cord clamping, delivery room temperature stabilization, strategies to establish functional residual capacity, and adequate ventilation as well as oxygen use in the delivery room is generally based on expert consensus, physiologic plausibility, as well as data from slightly more mature extremely low gestational-age neonates. Little is known about optimal care in the delivery room of these most fragile infants, and thus the need for research remains critical.