Dietary and medication adjustments to improve seizure control in patients treated with the ketogenic diet.

Journal Article (Journal Article)

Unlike anticonvulsant drugs and vagus nerve stimulation, there are no guidelines regarding adjustments to ketogenic diet regimens to improve seizure efficacy once the diet has been started. A retrospective chart review was performed of 200 consecutive patients treated with the ketogenic diet at Johns Hopkins Hospital from 2007 to 2013. Ten dietary and supplement changes were identified, along with anticonvulsant adjustments. A total of 391 distinct interventions occurred, of which 265 were made specifically to improve seizure control. Adjustments led to >50% further seizure reduction in 18%, but only 3% became seizure-free. The benefits of interventions did not decrease over time. There was a trend towards medication adjustments being more successful than dietary modifications (24% vs 15%, P = .08). No single dietary change stood out as the most effective, but calorie changes were largely unhelpful (10% with additional benefit).

Full Text

Duke Authors

Cited Authors

  • Selter, JH; Turner, Z; Doerrer, SC; Kossoff, EH

Published Date

  • January 2015

Published In

Volume / Issue

  • 30 / 1

Start / End Page

  • 53 - 57

PubMed ID

  • 24859788

Pubmed Central ID

  • PMC4241191

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1708-8283

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0883-0738

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1177/0883073814535498

Language

  • eng