Evaluation of the seizure control and the tolerability of ketogenic diet in Chinese children with structural drug-resistant epilepsy

OBJECTIVES: In this study, we aimed to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of ketogenic diet (KD) in Chinese children with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) due to structural etiology. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed data from 23 pediatric patients with DRE due to structural etiology who were treated with KD at Department of Neurology, between May 2014 and December 2020. Based on etiological classifications, the patients were divided into a neonatal brain injury (Group 1), an intracranial infection group (Group2) and a group that showed malformations of cortical development (MCDs) (Group 3). RESULTS: The 23 patients remained on the KD for a mean duration of 15.3 ± 9.7 months. The response rates for the control of seizures were 60.9% (14/23), 52.2 % (12/23), 47.8% (11/23) at 3, 6 and 12 months, respectively. Subjective improvements in cognition were observed in 87.0% (20/23) of the children during follow-up. Reductions in the frequency of seizures of > 50% were more commonly achieved by patients in group 1 (75.0%, 9/12) compared to the patients in groups 2 (60.0%, 3/5) and 3 (33.4%, 2/6). Further analysis of the patients in Group 1 showed that children with a history of hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) (100.0%, 6/6) had the highest rate of > 50% seizure reduction. The main reasons for the discontinuation of the KD were due to lack of efficacy and poor compliance. Most of the side effects associated with the KD diet were minor and easily corrected by appropriately adjusting the diet. Only 1 patient discontinued the diet due to severe refusal to eat. CONCLUSIONS: KD is an effective and safe treatment for Chinese children with DRE due to structural etiology. Better efficacy of seizure control was observed in patients with a history of neonatal brain injury. Patients with DRE secondary to HIE may be particularly responsive to the KD therapy, and so KD should be considered earlier in those patients.