Elevation of serum creatine phosphokinase during growth hormone treatment in patients with multiple pituitary hormone deficiency.

Serum creatinine phosphokinase (s-CPK) increased to more than 500 U/l in 5 out of 21 patients with growth hormone (GH) deficiency during the 2 years of treatment with biosynthetic GH. In three of these five patients, s-CPK had elevated gradually after the start of GH treatment and remained high in one patient except in the period when GH injection was interrupted, and gradually decreased in the other two patients during treatment. These three patients had complete GH deficiency associated with multiple pituitary hormone deficiency due to pituitary stalk transection. One of the remaining two patients had Noonan syndrome and his s-CPK levels before therapy were relatively high. The fifth patient was a baseball athlete and the elevation of s-CPK seemed to be attributable to the strenuous exercise. Conclusion. s-CPK increases significantly in a certain group of patients with GH deficiency during GH replacement therapy. Measurement of s-CPK is to be included in the follow up laboratory tests at least in the 1st treatment year to evaluate the potential hazardous effects of GH on muscle.