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CPK

• Overview
• Risks

Alternative Names:

CK; Creatine kinase; Creatine phosphokinase

What the risks are:

• Excessive bleeding
• Fainting or feeling light-headed
• Hematoma (blood accumulating under the skin)
• Infection (a slight risk any time the skin is broken)
• Multiple punctures to locate veins

Special considerations:

Other tests should be done to determine the exact location of muscle damage.

Factors that may affect test results include cardiac catheterization , intramuscular injections, trauma to muscles, recent surgery, and heavy exercise.

Drugs that can increase CPK measurements include amphotericin B, ampicillin, some anesthetics, blood thinners, aspirin, clofibrate, dexamethasone, furosemide, alcohol, and cocaine.

Veins and arteries vary in size from one patient to another and from one side of the body to the other. Obtaining a blood sample may be more difficult from some people than from others.

• Review Date: 1/22/2007
• Reviewed By: Benjamin W. Van Voorhees, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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