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Broaching conversations about goals of care can be difficult for clinicians. Presently, the communication strategies used by pediatric oncologists to approach goals of care conversations are not well understood. We recorded disease re-evaluation conversations between pediatric oncologists, patients, and parents, capturing 141 conversations (~2400 minutes) for 17 patients with advancing illness across the study period. We conducted content analysis to identify strategies for broaching goals-of-care conversations and found five distinct communication approaches, which were not mutually exclusive. Further research is needed to explore patient and family views on best practices for broaching discussions about goals of care.

Mutations in PIGN, resulting in multiple congenital anomalies-hypotonia-seizures syndrome, a glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor deficiency, have been published in four families to date. We report four patients from three unrelated families with epilepsy and hypotonia in whom whole exome sequencing yielded compound heterozygous variants in PIGN. As with previous reports Patients 1 and 2 (full siblings) have severe global developmental delay, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and minor dysmorphic features, including high palate, bitemporal narrowing, depressed nasal bridge, and micrognathia; Patient 3 had early global developmental delay with later progressive spastic quadriparesis, intellectual disability, and intractable generalized epilepsy; Patient 4 had bilateral narrowing as well but differed by the presence of hypertelorism, markedly narrow palpebral fissures, and long philtrum, had small distal phalanges of fingers 2, 3, and 4, absent distal phalanx of finger 5 and similar toe anomalies, underdeveloped nails, unusual brain anomalies, and a more severe early clinical course. These patients expand the known clinical spectrum of the disease. The severity of the presentations in conjunction with the patients' mutations suggest a genotype-phenotype correlation in which congenital anomalies are only seen in patients with biallelic loss-of-function. In addition, PIGN mutations appear to be panethnic and may be an underappreciated cause of epilepsy.

Aim To determine the efficacy of the ketogenic diet for children with Lennox–Gastaut syndrome (LGS) at our institution and in the literature. Method The records of children with LGS initiated on the ketogenic diet at our institution from 1994 to 2010 were reviewed. Inclusion criteria included the presence of ≤2.5Hz spike-and-wave complexes on electroencephalogram, multiple seizure types including tonic, atonic, or atypical absence, developmental delay, and age under 1 year. We additionally reviewed the literature for cases of LGS treated with the ketogenic diet and their outcomes. Results Seventy-one children (41 males, 30 females, median age 3y 6mo, range 18mo–18y), with LGS were initiated on the ketogenic diet. Using an intent-to-treat analysis, after 6 months, 36 (51%) achieved more than 50% seizure reduction, 16 (23%) experienced more than 90% seizure reduction, and 1 (1%) achieved seizure freedom. Results were similar after 12 months. Age, sex, side effects, valproate use, and history of infantile spasms were not predictive of more than 90% seizure reduction. In the literature, 88 of 189 (47%) children with LGS had more than 50% seizure reduction after 3 to 36 months of ketogenic diet treatment. Interpretation The ketogenic diet is efficacious in the treatment of LGS, with approximately one-half of children responding at 12 months.