Rezumat: The premature birth continues to be one of the greatest challenges of the perinatal medicine. The beginning of the millennium has found us witnesses of an impressive number of survivals of newborns with a weight lower than 500 g at birth, i.e. below the weight limit which the World Health Organization has imposed on the registration of the living fetus birth. These infants, named by some authors “micro-prematures” and treated in the intensive care units, reveal a new reality of the modern neonatology. Although the huge clinical and technological progress achieved during the latest years is obvious, the survival of these micro-prematures has also lead to an increase demand for financial and human resources as well as the appearance of major ethical dilemma. Most of these survival premature infants have a low weight compared to the standards of the gestational age and the long termed prognosis is not confirmed at present. Cuvinte cheie: the premature birth, premature infants.