NEONATAL VIABILITY IN THE 1990'S: HELD HOSTAGE BY TECHNOLOGY. • 234

The survival of extremely low birth weight newborns (ELBW) [≤ 1000 grams] has dramatically and significantly improved since 1990. This has been attributed to Surfactant, maternal steroids and new forms of neonatal ventilation. Over a 10 year period at our institution, we evaluated neonatal survival (alive at Day 28 of life) based on birthweight (BW) and gestational age (GA). Small for GA newborns, as well as those who expired in the delivery room (DR) and beyond 28 days of life, were excluded. Newborns < 500 grams at birth with a GA ≤ 23 weeks are not routinely resuscitated.Table