[Elevation of Myostatin as a Potential Marker for Compartment Syndrome in Electrical Injuries]

Electrical accidents and particularly subsequent compartment syndromes are challenging injuries for clinical treatment. Creatinine kinase (CK) and myoglobin are known lab parameters to detect a compartment syndrome.

We followed up patients with electrical injuries between the years 2006 and 2016 at our burn unit. We aimed to analyse the role of myostatin as marker for compartment syndrome through serum measurements within 48 hours after injury.

We collected data from 24 patients hospitalised with high-voltage electrical injury. All patients were male. We measured myostatin in 14 of these patients. While CK-MB (creatinine kinase muscle-brain type [MB]) showed no significant correlation to compartment syndrome, CK and myostatin gave highly significant increases. Interestingly, myostatin was significantly increased in electrical injuries but not burn injuries, while CK did not show a significant difference.

Thus, besides CK, myostatin can serve as reliable early marker for compartment syndrome in electrical injuries.