Ketogenic diet for infantile spasms refractory to first-line treatments: an open prospective study

Abstract

Ketogenic diet (KD) is an efficient treatment for refractory epilepsy including infantile spasms (IS). We evaluated the effect of a KD to treat IS as a third-line treatment, after vigabatrin (VGB) and steroids. We evaluated the efficacy and the tolerability of KD in IS using the rate of seizure-free patients at 1 month.

Methods: We conducted an open study using the data from a prospective database of two French child neurology departments (Amiens & Robert Debré-Paris, France) over a three-year period. All the patients followed the KD for 6 months. The addition of an antiepileptic drug was allowed after 1 month of KD in the non-seizure-free patients.

Results: 17 patients were treated by KD for IS. The KD was initiated at the mean age of 9.4±1.1 months. After 1 month with KD, 6/17 (35%) patients were seizure free while 11/17 (65%) were seizure-free after the third month. However, an additional antiepileptic drug (felbamate or topiramate) was given to all patients that were not seizure-free under KD. The KD was well tolerated.

Conclusion: Our responder rate is similar to previous studies despite an early use (before 1-year-old) and the use of KD after VGB and steroids. The KD was well-tolerated in this population of young infants. Felbamate leads to an increase in the responder rate after the use of KD.