Chelation therapy helps prevent heart attacks, strokes, and death in
those with heart disease.
TACT (Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy) was the first large-scale,
multicenter study designed to determine the safety and efficacy of
chelation therapy for people who have suffered a heart attack. The
chelation treatments worked chelation therapy was found to reduce
heart attacks, strokes, deaths, hospitalizations for chest pain, and
artery-opening procedures. Despite angering some of the
anti-alternative medicine crusaders who fought to get the ten-year
trial cancelled, the positive results were published in JAMA, the
American Heart Journal, and Circulation.
Since then, cardiovascular researchers from Columbia University’s
Division of Cardiology at Mount Sinai Medical Center and Stanford
University’s School of Medicine have been struggling to get the word
out and garner greater support for additional research into this
promising but controversial treatment. They want conventional
cardiologists to understand the important role that toxic heavy
metals play in heart disease and to consider the life-saving
benefits of removing these toxins from the body using chelation
therapy.
Removing Heavy Metals
Mount Sinai Medical Center studies chelation therapy in heart attack
survivors
TACT was a randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled study based out
of Mount Sinai Medical Center involving 1,708 heart attack
survivors. Participants were randomly assigned to receive 40 weekly
infusions of either the standard EDTA chelation solution or placebo
delivered intravenously (through the veins). The patients were
followed for an average of four years. Ethylenediamine tetraacetic
acid, or EDTA, is a synthetic amino acid that is approved by the FDA
for removal of toxic metal ions such as lead. Repeated EDTA
administration is thought to reduce atherosclerotic plaque and other
mineral deposits throughout the cardiovascular system, especially
the hardened arteries around the heart.
The results of this clinical trial were first presented at the
American Heart Association’s 2012 Annual Scientific Sessions and
later published in a number of prestigious peer-reviewed journals.
The study’s lead researcher, Dr. Gervasio Lamas, MD, is the Chairman
of Medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center and Chief of the Columbia
University Division of Cardiology at Mount Sinai Medical Center.
Chelation therapy helps prevent heart attacks, strokes, and death in
those with heart disease
Dr. Lamas explained how chelation therapy showed benefit for the
prevention of heart attack, stroke and death in patients with
existing coronary artery disease. “There is a significant reduction
in the primary endpoint of death, myocardial infarction, stroke,
coronary revascularization, or hospitalization for angina, with EDTA
chelation compared to placebo,“ said Dr. Lamas in his presentation.
Overall, those getting the EDTA chelation had 18% fewer
cardiovascular complications than those in the placebo group. Those
with diabetes did even better; they had a 39% reduction in deaths,
hearts attacks, strokes, hospitalization for chest pain, and medical
procedures to restore normal blood flow to the heart.
Chelation And Heavy Metal Detoxification
Furthermore, Dr. Lamas and the other researchers told the audience
at the American Heart Association conference that the therapy
appeared safe and was well tolerated, despite what some opponents
claim.
How EDTA chelation works
In 2007, over 100,000 patients in the US underwent EDTA chelation
therapy. Exactly how it works to reduce deaths and cardiovascular
complications in those with heart disease and atherosclerosis is
still not completely understood. Chelating agents are molecules
surround and bind metal ions. EDTA binds and removes metals in the
body such as calcium, zinc, iron, copper, lead, arsenic, cadmium,
and aluminum. One hypothesis is that the removal of heavy metals and
excessive iron and copper results in the reduction of free radical
production and a decrease in oxidative stress, which is a big
contributor to the development of atherosclerotic plaques.
Is EDTA chelation therapy for you?
Today, a small group of integrative physicians all over the world
are specially trained in the use of EDTA chelation for the treatment
of a wide variety of chronic degenerative diseases associated with
vascular problems. If you’ve had a heart attack, are facing possible
bypass surgery or angioplasty, if you have diabetes, or if you’ve
been told you have atherosclerosis or coronary artery disease, you
may be just the right candidate for chelation therapy. You will need
to work with a knowledgeable physician who has gone through a
training program such as that offered by the American College for
Advancement in Medicine (ACAM). EDTA chelation is almost never used
alone; it is usually combined with other intravenous nutrients along
with nutrition therapies and lifestyle changes.
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