The role of the ketogenic diet in patients with epilepsy. A brief literary review and a clinical example

Abstract

Despite the advances in pharmacology, there are still some patients with drug-resistant inoperable epilepsy. Individual ketogenic diet might be an effective measure to prevent seizures. A ketogenic diet must be used only after consulting a dietitian, since it has contraindications and may cause complications. This article focuses on the mechanism of action of the ketogenic diet, indications and contraindications to it, and also describes our experience of using ketogenic diet in a patient with structural focal epilepsy and a typical history of the disease, side effects of antiepileptic drugs, and low compliance of antiepileptic therapy.