[Pregnancy in diabetic women--past and today]

The discovery of insulin in 1921 and introducing insulin into a clinical practice gave an unique opportunity to treat people suffering from a type 1 diabetes successfully. Prior to this success, pregnancy in diabetic women was extremely rare and most of cases resulted in stillbirth and fatal outcome for mother. After the introduction of insulin into therapy of pregnant women with diabetes, a permanent improvement in neonatal and maternal outcome has been noted. However, a diabetic pregnancy still constitutes a high risk pregnancy, requiring a targeted, highly specialized control of women and fetus. This review presents problems concerning diagnose, treatment and outcome of diabetic pregnancy throughout the XXth century.