PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Raidah S. Al-Baradie AU - Alaa Alshammari AU - Modhi Alajmi AU - Shahid bashir TI - The role of ketogenic diet in controlling epileptic seizures AID - 10.17712/nsj.2021.1.20200101 DP - 2021 Jan 01 TA - Neurosciences Journal PG - 103--106 VI - 26 IP - 1 4099 - http://nsj.org.sa/content/26/1/103.short 4100 - http://nsj.org.sa/content/26/1/103.full SO - Neurosciences (Riyadh)2021 Jan 01; 26 AB - Objectives: To study the role of the ketogenic diet (KD) in controlling seizures in children with medically resistant epilepsy in Saudi Arabia.Methods: This retrospective study was conducted in the Pediatric Neurology Clinic at a tertiary care epilepsy center. Thirty-one patients with medically resistant epilepsy were enrolled from 2013 to 2018. The seizure reduction variables were evaluated at 6, 12, 18 and 24 months after enrollment.Results: Of the 31 patients, 14 (45.2%) were males and 17 (54.8%) were females. The most common types of seizures were myoclonic seizures and mixed seizures, both of which occurred in 9 (29%) of the participants. Of the participants, 15 (48.4%) had seizures one to 5 times per day. Six months after starting a KD, 2 (6.45%) of participants were seizure-free; 6 (19.35%) were seizure-free after 12 months of treatment.Conclusion: The present study highlighted the effectiveness of KD in medically resistant epilepsy children to local population. A larger cohort is warrant to confirm these findings.