Clinical studies on elevation of serum CPK activity in patients with drug intoxication.

Elevation of serum creatine phosphokinase (CPK), known to occur in only cerebral, cardiac and muscular diseases, was encountered in 34 patients with drug intoxication. The mechanism of hyper-CPKemia in drug intoxication was examined by determining the correlations between CPK variations and underlying factors. Liver function, WBC, serum total protein, albumin and blood sugar indicated correlations with serum CPK. It seemed that increased blood sugar, decreased protein, decreased albumin and increased WBC were associated with hyper-CPKemia and reflected severe acute stress to the nervous, endocrine and metabolic systems collapsing the systemic physiological homeostasis.