Objectives: To understand clinicians' consensus on mode of delivery in extremely preterm breech infants; assess knowledge on neonatal outcomes and its impact on consensus.
Study design: A two-round Delphi of obstetrical or neonatal care providers, recruited from national conferences and investigator networks. Round one assessed decision-making (vignettes), and knowledge; the second round reassessed vignettes after presenting outcome data.
Results: In round one (102 respondents), consensus (a priori, ≥75% agreement) was achieved in 4/13 vignettes: two when likely/very likely to offer Cesarean (26 and 27 weeks) and two for unlikely/very unlikely (23 weeks growth restriction, ± adverse features). Clinicians generally underestimated neonatal outcomes. In round two (87 respondents), three scenarios achieved consensus (likely/very likely to offer Cesarean at 25-27 weeks); in five other vignettes, not offering Cesarean was reduced in ≥15% of respondents.
Conclusion: Limited consensus exists on extremely preterm breech mode of delivery, partly associated with neonatal outcome underestimation.
Gestational age notation: The authors follow the World Health Organization's notation on gestational age. Under this notation, the first day of the last menstrual period (LMP) is day 0 of week 0. Therefore, days 0-6 represent completed week 0, days 7-13 represent completed week 1 and so on.
© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature America, Inc.