Diagnostic value of creatine kinase activity in canine cerebrospinal fluid

Abstract

This study aimed to determine whether creatine kinase (CK) activity in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) has diagnostic value for various groups of neurological conditions or for different anatomical areas of the nervous system (NS). The age, breed, results of CSF analysis, and diagnosis of 578 canine patients presenting with various neurological conditions between January 2009 and February 2015 were retrospectively collected. The cases were divided according to anatomical areas of the nervous system, i.e., brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system, and into groups according to the nature of the condition diagnosed: vascular, immune/inflammatory/infectious, traumatic, toxic, anomalous, metabolic, idiopathic, neoplastic, and degenerative. Statistical analysis showed that CSF-CK alone cannot be used as a diagnostic tool and that total proteins in the CSF and red blood cells (RBCs) do not have a significant relationship with the CSF-CK activity. CSF-CK did not have a diagnostic value for different disease groups or anatomical areas of the nervous system.

Figure 1

Distribution of log CSF-CK activity between anatomical area and nature of the condition, showing no correlation between the variables. 1 — anomalous; 2 — degenerative; 3 — idiopathic; 4 — immune/inflammatory/infectious; 5 — metabolic; 6 — neoplastic; 7 — toxic; 8 — traumatic; 9 — vascular.

Figure 2

Area for normal range of (log) CSF-CK activity between anatomical area and nature of the condition, showing scattered values and hence no specific reference range for any of the conditions: 1 — anomalous; 2 — degenerative; 3 — idiopathic; 4 — immune/inflammatory/infectious; 5 — metabolic; 6 — neoplastic; 7 — toxic; 8 — traumatic; 9 — vascular.