This review presents current achievements in paediatric diabetology and dis
cusses potential new approaches. Recent multinational investigations have d
emonstrated that in spite of multidisciplinary diabetes care only one-third
of young patients with diabetes have an HbA1c below 8%, which is associate
d with a lower risk for development of secondary complications. Since there
is no standard protocol for the optimal treatment of diabetes in children
and adolescents, the therapy has to be tailored to the individual child's n
eeds, involving not only paediatricians, but also dieticians, diabetes educ
ators, psychologists and social workers. To improve the current situation a
major goal for the next few years appears to be the establishment of stand
ards for structure, process and outcome quality in paediatric diabetology.
Future perspectives include possibilities for a cure via islet- or pancreas
transplantation or improved pharmacological therapy following the introduc
tion of new types of insulin or other beta cell-related peptides as adjunct
ive therapy not currently used.