[Clinical significance of the measurement of serum enzyme activity in children].

The most frequently estimated enzyme-activities in the serum of children are discussed; these are the serum transaminases GOT and GPT, gamma-GT, alkaline phosphatase, lactate and hydroxy-butyrate dehydrogenase, as well as the creatinkinase and the alpha-amylase. The limited significance of these results for the diagnosis or prognosis is shown. A pattern of several enzyme-activities allows for a better judgement of a situation than the measurement of only one enzyme. Nowadays easier isoenzyme determinations allow for an organ-specific diagnosis. The inherited rise of alkaline phosphatase activity in the absence of disease is known, equally the idiopathic rise of creatinkinase and alpha-amylase. All results of enzyme-activity measurements should be judged in the context if the clinical situation.