What is Serum Creatine Kinase Measurement?

The measurement of serum creatine kinase is mainly used for the diagnosis of cardiomyopathy and skeletal muscle diseases. When the level of serum creatine kinase rises, it may indicate myocardial infarction, pericarditis, myocarditis, and other serious cardiovascular diseases, in addition to physiological elevations. Therefore, its significance is quite important.

The measurement of creatine kinase activity can be used for the diagnosis of skeletal muscle diseases and myocardial diseases. Elevated creatine kinase levels can be due to both physiological and pathological reasons. Physiological elevations are commonly seen after intense exercise, childbirth, cardiac compression, cardiac catheterization, and the installation of artificial heart pacemakers. Pathological elevations are most commonly seen in myocardial infarction, viral myocarditis, dermatomyositis, pericarditis, muscular dystrophy, and cerebrovascular accidents.

(1) In acute myocardial infarction, the level of creatine kinase begins to rise 2-4 hours after the onset of the disease, peaks at 12-48 hours, and returns to normal within 2-4 days. The degree of elevation is greater than AST and LDH, and appears earlier. It is basically consistent with the degree of myocardial injury, and CK activity also increases in cases of subendocardial myocardial infarction and recurrent myocardial infarction that are difficult to diagnose with electrocardiography. Dynamic monitoring is helpful for observing the condition and estimating the prognosis of myocardial infarction.

(2) CK levels also increase significantly in polymyositis, progressive muscular dystrophy, and severe muscle trauma.

(3) CK activity also increases in cerebrovascular accidents, meningitis, generalized convulsions, shock, and tetanus.