Is dilution important: Factitious Total Creatine Kinase in case of Rhabdomyolysis?

Abstract

Factitious test reports may result in incorrect diagnosis and incorrect management. Such incorrect diagnosis can be prevented by a vigilant biochemist. We report a case of Rhabdomyolysis presenting with extremely low total Creatine Kinase (CK) levels which was factitious. Running the sample in dilution resulted in a very high value of total CK which could have been missed if the sample was not run in dilution and the diagnosis of Rhabdomyolysis could have been missed.

Keywords

• incorrect diagnosis
• muscle injury
• substrate depletion
• sample dilution