Please Note: Below is an excerpt from an article from the American College of Cardiology®.

Ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (disodium EDTA or edetate disodium), patented in 1938 by Munz, is a chelating agent capable of binding cationic metallic and nonmetallic ions and mobilizing them from physiological tissue in a process termed chelation.¹ EDTA can complex with metals such as lead and cadmium, with the EDTA-metal chelate being excreted in the urine. Edetate disodium (the sodium salt of EDTA), which binds to calcium among other cations, was first used to treat hypercalcemia and digitalis intoxication. Later, in the mid-20th century, motivated by the calcification present in advanced coronary disease, practitioners began using edetate disodium to treat symptoms of cardiovascular disease with initially positive, albeit uncontrolled, results.² These early reports were followed by over 50 years of uncontrolled case reports and case series³ and 3 small clinical trials.^4-6 The trials enrolled fewer than 300 patients in aggregate and had surrogate endpoints and short follow-up. Although interpreted as negative, they could not exclude a small-to-moderate benefit of edetate disodium chelation therapy. Despite, or because of, an absence of clear evidence, most traditional physicians shunned the practice.

Despite chelation therapy being rejected by traditional medicine, pockets of practitioners continued administering edetate disodium treatments with many case reports and case series published. Occasionally, there were reports of serious harm, including death, that were usually due to errors in drug selection, dosage, or rate of infusion.⁷ To definitively determine the effectiveness and safety of chelation therapy, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute released a request for applications in 2001 for a definitive study of edetate disodium treatment in subjects with coronary artery disease (CAD), and the aptly named TACT (Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy) was born.

To read more from the American College of Cardiology article titled "Chelation Therapy for CAD" written by Gervasio A. Lamas, MD, FACC; Ian Ergui, BS; Omar M Issa, DO, FACC, click the button below!