Diet induced ketosis in epilepsy and anaesthesia. Metabolic changes in three patients on a ketogenic diet

Ketogenic diets have a high fat and low carbohydrate and low protein content to induce ketosis which is monitored by daily urine testing. Lapses in diet are frequently associated with loss of anticonvulsant control. There has, as yet, been no report of children maintained on a ketogenic diet subject to anaesthesia and surgery: this paper records the changes in metabolic variables observed in three patients undergoing simple inhalation anaesthetics for minor surgery.