Serum Creatinine Phosphokinase In Acute Myocardial Infarction

CREATINE phosphokinase (CPK) is an enzyme abundantly present in skeletal and cardiac muscle cells. It catalyzes the phosphorylation of muscle creatine, a reversible reaction requiring adenosine triphosphate (ATP): In 1959 Ebashi et al first utilized the measurement of this enzyme as a diagnostic aid.1They determined the serum creatine phosphokinase (SCPK) in patients with muscular disorders and found abnormal elevations in a large percentage of patients with progressive muscular dystrophy of the Duchenne type. Other investigators have since confirmed these findings2-4and in addition have enlarged the diagnostic possibilities by finding abnormally high SCPK values in other disorders affecting muscle tissue, such as dermatomyositis3,4hypothyroidism,5following cardiac surgery,6and during acute myocardial infarction.7-10 Since CPK is so heavily concentrated in muscle, as opposed to other tissues,11it possesses a potentially high degree of diagnostic specificity, in contradistinction to the ubiquitous transaminases and dehydrogenases. Therefore, it is surprising that