DIABETES INSIPIDUS IN PREGNANCY

Abstract

DIABETES insipidus is a rare complication of pregnancy. When this disease does happen to be associated with the pregnant state, however, considerable interest attaches to the combination, since there are implications both from the obstetrical and from the endocrine standpoint. To the obstetrician it is of importance to know whether an insufficient production of oxytocic hormone coincides with the inadequate elaboration of antidiuretic hormone, with the resultant possibility of dystocia. The obstetrician is interested also in the possibility that posterior pituitary extract administration, necessary for the treatment of the diabetes insipidus, might be responsible for the induction of premature labor. From an endocrine standpoint, further information is needed concerning the effect various normal hormonal shifts during pregnancy might have upon the function of the posterior lobe of the pituitary gland. That such shifts might well have an important effect is suggested by the well-known fact that in diabetes insipidus the