Creatine kinase activity inamyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients

Abstract. The aim of this study was to investigate creatine kinase(CK) in the serum of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)patients. Previous investigations have shown an increased CKactivity in ALS patients and this has been suggested to be anindicator of patients survival. The study was conducted at theDepartment of Neurology, University School of Medicine inLublin. Thirty ALS patients took part in the study. The averageduration of the disease was 17 months. Serum CK levels weremeasured by the enzymatic method with N-acethylcysteine. CK waselevated in 43.3% of the ALS patients. There were no significantdifferences in the serum CK level between the groups of the ALSpatients depending on age, sex, duration of the disease, orclinical condition of patients. The CK level was significantlyhigher in the serum of the patients with a limb onset than inpatients with a bulbar onset of ALS. Our study confirmed theincrease in the serum CK activity in ALS patients. CK activitydepends on a limb onset or a bulbar onset of ALS, but not on theduration of the disease and the severity of the clinicalcondition.