Weaning Off Ketogenic Diet in Kids With Epilepsy

Source: Epilepsia

Summary

This study looked at how children with epilepsy stop using the ketogenic diet therapy (KDT), which is a special diet that can help control seizures. Researchers examined the medical records of 57 children who started and then stopped KDT at a specialized epilepsy center between 2016 and 2022. They wanted to understand what factors might lead to more seizures or changes in seizure medications during the process of stopping the diet.

The key findings showed that nearly half of the children had a good response to the diet, with 25% becoming completely seizure-free. However, during the weaning process, about 62% of the children experienced more seizures or needed changes in their medications. Factors like a shorter time on the diet, a quicker weaning process, and certain EEG results were linked to these negative outcomes. Interestingly, while longer weaning times seemed to help those who responded well to the diet, the speed of weaning alone did not determine how well they did.

These findings are important because they suggest that each child's plan for stopping KDT should be tailored to their specific situation, including how well they responded to the diet and their EEG results. However, the study has limitations, as it only looked back at past cases and did not test new methods for weaning. More research is needed to find the best ways to help children safely stop using the ketogenic diet while minimizing the risk of seizures.

Original source