Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: To investigate the changes in serum creatine kinase (CK) levels during the treatment of patients with growth hormone (GH).

Methods: We evaluated 715 cases who were treated with GH retrospectively. The clinical data of 20 children with severe CK elevation (>500 IU/L) were analyzed.

Results: CK elevation was recorded in 96 of the cases (13.5%) during GH theraphy. 20 of these patients had severe CK elevation. The mean age of the cases with severe CK elevation was 11.5±3.4 years and mean serum CK level was 828.9±400.1 (504–2246) U/L. The time elapsed between the beginning of treatment and CK increase was 20.5±12.8 (3–48) months. 8 of the cases used GH formulations containing m-cresol. We found no significant differences in CK levels according to age, gender, height, growth velocity, diagnosis, lenght of the needle used and GH preparations.

Conclusion: Severe CK elevation was found in 2% of the patients on GH treatment. The effects of GH on muscle should be evaluated during follow up.