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Internal and Emergency Medicine

, Volume 13, Issue 5, pp 749–755 | Cite as

Early postictal serum lactate concentrations are superior to serum creatine kinase concentrations in distinguishing generalized tonic–clonic seizures from syncopes

  • Oliver Matz
  • Jan Heckelmann
  • Sebastian Zechbauer
  • Jens Litmathe
  • Jörg C. Brokmann
  • Klaus Willmes
  • Jörg B. Schulz
  • Manuel Dafotakis
EM - ORIGINAL
First Online:
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Accepted:

Abstract

Concentrations of serum creatine kinase (CK) and serum lactate are frequently measured to help differentiate between generalized tonic–clonic seizures (GTCS) and syncope. The aim of this prospective cohort study was to systematically compare these two markers. The primary outcome is the measurement of serum lactate and CK in blood samples drawn within 2 h of the event in patients admitted with either a GTCS (n = 49) or a syncope (n = 36). Furthermore, the specificity and sensitivity of serum lactate and CK are determined as diagnostic markers in distinguishing between GTCS and syncope. GTCS patients have significantly higher serum lactate levels compared to syncope patients (p < 0.001). In contrast, CK does not differ between groups at admission. Regarding the first hour after the seizure, we identify a cut-off for serum lactate of 2.45 mmol/l for diagnosing GTCS as the cause of an impairment of consciousness with a sensitivity of 0.94 and a specificity of 0.93 (AUC: 0.97; 95% CI 0.94–1.0). In the second hour after the event, the ROC analysis yields similar results (AUC: 0.94; 95% CI 0.85–1.0). Serum lactate is a sensitive and specific diagnostic marker to discriminate GTCS from syncope and is superior to CK early after admission to the emergency department.

Keywords

Lactate Seizure Diagnostic marker Syncope Creatine kinase (CK) 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge comments from Dr. Laura Hausmann (PhD).

Compliance with ethical standards

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

Statement of human and animal rights

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Copyright information

© SIMI 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  • Oliver Matz
    • 1
    • 2
  • Jan Heckelmann
    • 1
  • Sebastian Zechbauer
    • 1
  • Jens Litmathe
    • 1
  • Jörg C. Brokmann
    • 2
  • Klaus Willmes
    • 1
  • Jörg B. Schulz
    • 1
    • 3
  • Manuel Dafotakis
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of Neurology, University HospitalRheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule [RWTH] AachenAachenGermany
  2. 2.Emergency Department, University HospitalRheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule [RWTH] AachenAachenGermany
  3. 3.JARA-BRAIN Institute Molecular Neuroscience and NeuroimagingForschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, RWTH Aachen UniversityAachenGermany

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