Heart disease: Chelation Therapy

Heart disease

Some alternative medicine practitioners administer chelating agents, usually EDTA, to patients with hardening of the arteries. The use of EDTA chelation therapy as a treatment for coronary artery disease has not been shown to be effective and is not approved by the FDA.[14] Several possible mechanisms have been proposed, though none have been scientifically validated. The procedure might leech calcium directly from the fatty plaques that block the arteries; stimulate the release of a hormone that removes deposited calcium or lowers cholesterol levels; or reduce oxidative stress on the blood vessel walls.[2] The US National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine is currently conducting a trial of efficacy, expected to complete around July 2009.[15]

The American Heart Association states that there is currently "no scientific evidence to demonstrate any benefit from this form of therapy" and that the "United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the American College of Cardiology all agree with the American Heart Association" that "there have been no adequate, controlled, published scientific studies using currently approved scientific methodology to support this therapy for cardiovascular disease."[14] Atwood et al. consider that methodological flaws and lack of prior probability make this trial "unethical, dangerous, pointless, and wasteful."[13]

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