Rheumatology 2003; 42: 186-188
© 2003 British Society for Rheumatology
Letters to the Editor |
A rare but important cause for a raised serum creatine kinase concentration: two case reports and a literature review
Rheumatology Department and
1 Department of Clinical Chemistry, Queen Alexandra Hospital, Cosham, Portsmouth PO6 3LY and
2 Biochemistry Department, Southend Hospital, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex SSO ORY, UK
| The first 10% of the full text of this article appears below. |
SIR, in this report we present two cases that caused diagnostic confusion. Although a rare diagnosis was ultimately confirmed in each case, several costly investigations could potentially have been avoided had this diagnosis been considered earlier.
Patient 1 was a 59-yr-old man who was admitted with central chest pain. His ECGs and laboratory tests were normal apart from a raised creatine kinase (CK) of 600 IU/l. As CK levels remained elevated over several months, cardiology consultation and investigations were undertaken and ischaemic heart disease was excluded. Additional features, including night sweats and muscle cramps, were noted after referral to the rheumatology department. Physical examination revealed no evidence of myopathy or connective tissue disease. Investigations were normal apart from a lymphocytosis of 7.4x109/l, CK of 852 IU/l and an