Acute phase reactants versus creatine phosphokinase in rheumatic carditis: a follow-up study

ABSTRACT

This work has been carried out to study the changes in the creatine phosphokinase MB isoenzyme [CPK- MB] percentage and activity in active rheumatic carditis before and during treatment and to correlate these changes with changes in the acute phase reactants and the rheumatic activity. The study was conducted on twenty children aged from 5 to 15 years suffering from active rheumatic carditis. Ten normal healthy children aged from 6 to 14 years were selected to serve as the control group. Every child was subjected to proper history taking, through clinical examination and laboratory estimation of erythrocyte sedimentation rate [EST]. C-reactive protein [CRP]. Antistreptolysin O titer [ASOT] and enzymatic study of serum CPK and CPK-MB isoenzyme. The laboratory studies were done on admission [before treatment] and repeated two weeks and four weeks after start of treatment. The results of the present study showed that on admission, all the parameters including the ESR, CRP, ASOT, CPK and CPL-MB were significantly higher than the control group. At the end of the second week, the ASOT came down to normal value while the other parameters were still significantly higher than the control. AT The end of the fourth week, all the parameters came down to normal value except CPK-MB activity and percentage where they remained significantly higher than the control group denoting the persistence of the rheumatic process