Related Experiment Videos
Persistent hyperCKemia: fourteen patients studied in retrospect
1Neurological Department, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Acta Neurologica Scandinavica
|January 1, 1988
Summary
Persistently high creatine kinase (CK) levels in 14 patients were often linked to manual labor or hypothyroidism, with some cases remaining unexplained. Treatment for hypothyroidism normalized CK in one patient.
Area of Science:
- Neurology
- Endocrinology
- Biochemistry
Background:
- Persistent hyperCKemia (elevated serum creatine kinase) can be challenging to diagnose.
- Established neuromuscular disorders were not indicated in the studied patient cohort.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the potential causes of unexplained hyperCKemia in patients without clear neuromuscular disease.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of clinical and laboratory findings in 14 patients with hyperCKemia.
- Evaluation of occupational factors, thyroid function, and specific enzyme deficiencies (myoadenylate deaminase).
Main Results:
- Manual occupation with local muscle strain was implicated in 8 patients.
- Subclinical hypothyroidism (normal thyroxine, elevated TSH) was identified in one patient, with CK normalizing after L-thyroxine treatment.
- Myoadenylate deaminase deficiency was found in 2 patients.
- HyperCKemia remained unexplained in 4 patients.
Conclusions:
- Non-neuromuscular factors like occupational strain and subclinical hypothyroidism can cause hyperCKemia.
- Myoadenylate deaminase deficiency is a potential, though less common, cause.
- Further investigation is needed for unexplained hyperCKemia cases.