Creatine Kinase is a type of protein that is mostly found in the skeletal muscle (CK-MM). 97 to 100% of Creatine Kinase are usually found in skeletal muscle. The other two types of Creatine Kinase are CK-MB (Creatine Kinase found in the heart muscle) and CK-BB (Creatine Kinase found in brain tissue).
CK-MB isoenzymes level helps quantify the degree of myocardial infarction and the timing of onset of infarction.
This enzyme is also used to determine the effectiveness of thrombolytic therapy used for myocardial infarction.
This is found in cardiac and skeletal muscles. The cardiac muscle has 30%, and the skeletal muscle has 1% MB.
Nowadays, a more specific test than CK- MB is Troponin-T.
- CK-MB is a diagnostic of MI.
- If there is negative CK-MB for > 48 hours, it is clear that the patient had no MI attack.
- The CK-MB level is helpful to quantify the level of muscle damage in MI.