MOBILE, Ala. – To foster cooperation and mutual learning among hospitals with exceptional outcomes for premature infants, the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at USA Health Children’s & Women’s Hospital has been selected to join an exclusive international research group called The Tiny Baby Collaborative.

With a goal of improving health outcomes for extremely premature newborns, The Tiny Baby Collaborative is composed of approximately 25 hospitals spanning four countries that routinely resuscitate children born at 22 to 23 weeks’ gestation and have a track record of successful outcomes. Neonatal staff from hospitals in Germany, Japan and Sweden also belong to the group.

“We are honored to be invited to be part of this exclusive international collaborative effort,” said Maran Ramani, M.D., M.P.H., M.S.H.A., M.S.H.Q.S., chief of the Division of Neonatology at Children’s & Women’s Hospital. “Not many centers in the U.S. routinely offer resuscitation for babies born between 22 and 23 weeks’ gestation. Our NICU has been resuscitating 22-23 weekers for the past 25 years, and our outcomes for 22 weekers are some of the best in the United States.”

As a member of this collaborative, Ramani said, USA Health will share its experiences in caring for 22-23 weekers with the rest of the world and gain knowledge from other centers that do the same.

Kalsang Dolma, M.D., a neonatologist at USA Health and an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine at the University of South Alabama, will serve as the primary investigator for The Tiny Baby Collaborative MINI study, a multicenter inventory of neonatal-perinatal interventions (MINI). The MINI study serves as a registry detailing outcomes and practices for all deliveries and infants admitted to intensive care at 22-23 weeks’ gestation at participating hospitals.

Established by physicians trying to better understand how to best care for premature infants born before 24 weeks’ gestation, the collaborative has two main goals: To share experiences among hospitals with expertise in treating preterm infants; and to find better ways to care for the most premature babies and their families.

Specifically, The Tiny Baby Collaborative focuses on the unique needs of babies born at or before 23 weeks’ gestation. Until recently, many hospitals around the world did not report survival of babies born this early. Now, more hospitals report that most of these patients can survive with specialized care.