Abstracts

Rationale: Ketogenic diet is often used in patients with refractory epilepsy and is known to be associated with growth retardation. We looked at thirteen pediatric patients with intractable epilepsy placed on ketogenic diet to assess the impact of ketogenic diet on growth.Methods: We did a retrospective chart review of patients placed on ketogenic diet after failing multiple anti epileptic medications. Data included diet compliance and change in growth curves following initiation of ketogenic diet.Results: The result showed that 33.3% of the patients experienced a decrease in height percentile while 33.3% had no change in height percentile and 33.3% had an increase in height percentile. With respect to weight gain, 66.6% had an increase in weight percentile, 22.2% showed no change in weight percentile and 11.1% had failure to thrive. 4 patients were excluded from study on the growth curves because of coexisting morbidities that confounded the study.Conclusions: Ketogenic diet is an effective treatment for refractory epilepsy. Our study shows that its effects on growth can be variable with some patients showing an increase in height and weight while some showed a decrease. The potential confounders could be the underlying etiology, medication and variations in dietary protocols.