Macro CK type 2 was detected in 3.7% of hospitalized patients, predominantly occurring in severely ill individuals with malignant tumors or liver cirrhosis, and serving as a marker of high mortality.
Observational (n=2,954)
No
What is the prevalence and clinical significance of macro CK type 2 in hospitalized patients and outpatients?
The presence of macro CK type 2 in serum is a marker of severe illness with high mortality, often associated with malignancies or liver cirrhosis.
We determined total CK activity with the N-acetylcysteine-activated method and residual activity after immunoinhibition of the CK-M subunits in the sera of 2018 patients consecutively admitted to our university hospital for internal diseases, and of 936 outpatients, regardless of the patients' diagnoses. We could detect not more than two types of macro CK: macro CK type 2, which we observed in the sera of 85 patients (prevalence, 3.7% for hospitalized patients), and macro CK type 1. Most patients showing macro CK type 2 were older than 50 years, but we additionally observed a second peak at 20-30 years of age. We saw no preponderance by sex. We detected macro CK type 2 predominantly in severely ill patients of all ages, mainly those with malignant tumors or cirrhosis of the liver. Our findings support the assumption that macro CK type 2 is the manifestation of mitochondrial CK in serum. Occasionally, macro CK type 2 disappeared from the circulation after amelioration of the associated disease. Its occurrence in serum nevertheless is a sign of a serious illness with high mortality but not inevitably a sign of impending death.
Stein et al. (Sun,) conducted a observational in Internal diseases (n=2,954). Total CK activity and residual activity measurement was evaluated on Detection of macro CK type 2. Macro CK type 2 was detected in 3.7% of hospitalized patients, predominantly occurring in severely ill individuals with malignant tumors or liver cirrhosis, and serving as a marker of high mortality.