This test measures the amount of creatine kinase (CK) in your blood. High CK levels may be a sign of damage or disease in your muscles, heart, or brain. Learn more.

What is Creatine Kinase? Creatine kinase (CK), also known as creatine phosphokinase, is an enzyme that plays a role in energy production. Higher amounts of this enzyme are found in tissues that use a lot of energy, such as the muscles (including the heart) and the brain. Creatine kinase will leak into the blood when these tissues are damaged.

Creatine kinase or creatine phosphokinase is an enzyme chiefly found in the brain, skeletal muscles, and heart. An elevated level of creatine kinase is seen in heart attacks, when the heart muscle is damaged, or in conditions that produce damage to the skeletal muscles or brain.

Creatine kinase (CK), formerly known as creatine phosphokinase, is an intracellular enzyme present in greatest amounts in skeletal muscle, myocardium, and brain; smaller amounts occur in other visceral tissues. Disruption of cell membranes due to hypoxia or other injury releases CK from the cellular cytosol into the systemic circulation.

This test measures the amount of an enzyme called creatine kinase (CK) in your blood. CK is a type of protein. The muscle cells in your body need CK to function. Levels of CK can rise after a heart attack, skeletal muscle injury, or strenuous exercise.

Serum creatine kinase levels (CK) can vary among healthy subjects, even when correcting for muscle mass.

Measuring serum creatine kinase (CK) is an important part of the evaluation of patients with muscle weakness or myalgia, and of assessing patients with myopathies or rhabdomyolysis.