Total Creatine Kinase
(CK)

Sample type:

Serum or plasma heparin.

Uses:

A CK test is most often used to diagnose and monitor muscular injuries and diseases such as Muscular dystrophy, a rare inherited disease that causes weakness, breakdown, and loss of function of skeletal muscles.

Precautions:

Avoid exercise before venipuncture.

Interfering factors:

Intramuscular injections increase serum CK activity.

Vigorous exertion may increase serum CK levels

Preanalytical errors:

Using the wrong tube in collecting the sample.

Doing exercise before the test.

Corrective errors:

Using a Red-top tube, gel-barrier tube, or green-top.

post-analytical errors:

Delay in reporting the result.

Corrective action:

Giving the result on the time.

Reference range:

Male: 55-170 units/L

Female: 30-135 units/L