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CHELATION THERAPY
WHAT TYPES OF EXAMINATIONS AND TESTING MUST BE DONE PRIOR TO BEGINNING CHELATION THERAPY?
Prior to commencing a course of chelation therapy a complete medical history is obtained. Diet is analyzed for nutritional adequacy and balance. Copies of pertinent medical records and summaries of hospital admissions may be sent for. A thorough head-to-toe, hands-to-physical examination will be performed. A complete list of current medications will be recorded, including the time and strength of each dose. Special note will be made of any allergies.
Blood and urine specimens will be obtained in a battery of tests to insure that no conditions exist which may be worsened by chelation therapy. Kidney function will be carefully assessed. An electrocardiogram is usually obtained. Noninvasive tests will be performed, as medically indicated, to determine the status of arterial blood flow prior to therapy. A consultation with other medical specialists may be requested.
IS CHELATION THERAPY NEW?
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Not at all. Chelation's earliest application with humans was before World War II when the British used another chelating agent, British Anti-Lewisite (BAL), as a poison gas antidote. BAL is still used today in medicine.
EDTA was first introduced into medicine in the United States in 1948 as a treatment for industrial workers suffering from lead poisoning in a battery factory. Shortly thereafter, the U.S. Navy advocated chelation therapy for sailors who had absorbed lead while painting government ships and dock facilities. In the years since, chelation therapy has remained the undisputed treatment-of-choice for lead poisoning, even in children with toxic accumulations of lead in their bodies as a result of eating leaded paint from toys, cribs or walls.
In the early 1950’s it was speculated that EDTA chelation therapy might help the accumulations of calcium associated with hardening of the arteries. Experiments were performed and victims of atherosclerosis experienced health improvements following chelation—diminished angina, better memory, sight, hearing and increased vigor. A number of practitioners then began to routinely treat individuals suffering from occlusive vascular conditions with chelation therapy. Consistent improvements were reported for most patients.
Published articles describing successful treatment of atherosclerosis with EDTA chelation therapy first appeared in medical journals in 1955. Dozens of favorable articles have been published since then. No unsuccessful results have ever been reported (with the exception of several recent studies with very flawed data presented by bypass surgeons, in an attempt to discredit this competing therapy). There have also been a number of editorial comments of a critical nature made by physicians with vested interests in vascular surgery and related procedures.
From 1964 on, despite continued documentation of its benefits and the development of safer treatment methods, the use of chelation for the treatment of arterial disease has been the subject of controversy.
IS IT LEGAL?
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Absolutely, there is no legal prohibition against a licensed medical doctor using chelation therapy for whatever conditions he or she deems it to be in the best interests of their patients, even though the drug involved, EDTA, does not yet have atherosclerosis listed as an indication on the FDA-approved package insert. The FDA does not regulate the practice of medicine, but merely approves marketing, labeling and advertising claims for drugs and devices in interstate commerce.
It costs many millions of dollars to perform the required research and to provide the FDA with documentation for a new drug claim, or even to add a new use to marketing brochures of a long established medicine like EDTA. Physicians routinely prescribe medicines for conditions not yet included on FDA approved advertising and marketing literature.
The American College for Advancement in Medicine conducts educational courses in the proper and safe use of intravenous which EDTA chelation twice yearly. They also publish a Protocol which contains professionally recognized standards of medical practice for chelation therapy.
On the question of legality, courts have expressed the opinion that a practitioner who withholds information about the availability of other treatment choices as chelation therapy, prior to performing vascular surgery (along with all other treatment modalities) is in violation of the doctrine of informed consent. Withholding information about a form of treatment may be tantamount to medical malpractice, if as a result, a patient is deprived of possible benefit. Thus, it is the doctors who refuse to recognize and inform their patients about chelation who are risking legal liability—not those chelating practitioners informed enough to resist peer pressure and provide an innovative treatment which they feel to be the safest, the most effective and the least expensive for many of their patients.
WHAT PROOF DO YOU HAVE THAT IT WORKS?
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Physician with extensive experience in the use of chelation therapy observe dramatic improvement in the vast majority of their patients. They see angina routinely relieved; patients who suffered searing chest and leg pain when walking only a short distance are frequently able to return to normal, productive living after undergoing chelation therapy. Far more dramatic, but equally common, is seeing diabetic ulcers and gangrenous feet clear up in a matter of weeks. Individuals who have been told that their limbs would need to be amputated because of gangrene are thrilled to watch their feet heal with chelation therapy, although some areas of dead tissue may still have to be trimmed away surgically.
The approximately 1,500 American practitioners practicing chelation therapy, plus hundreds of others in foreign countries, have countless files to prove they are able to reverse serious cases of arterial disease. Men and women often arrive at doctors’ offices near death with diseases caused by blocked arteries. Weeks or months later, they’re remarkably improved. There is a wealth of evidence from clinical experience that symptoms of reduced blood flow improve in up to 85 percent of patients treated. More than a million patients have thus far received chelation therapy, almost as have undergone bypass surgery. In addition, several research studies have been published with results of before-and-after diagnostic tests using radio-isotopes and ultra sound which prove statistically that blood flow increases following chelation therapy. Even without blood-flow studies, if leg pain on walking is relieved, angina becomes less bothersome, and if physical endurance and mental acuity improve, such benefits would be quite enough to justify EDTA chelation therapy. Improved quality of life and relief of symptoms are that most important benefits of chelation therapy.
WHAT DOES IT COST?
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A course of chelation therapy for a patient with advanced hardening of the arteries generally requires from six weeks, months and costs up to $4,000 or more for 30 treatments. This is considerable less than bypass surgery which is normally well over $40,000. A person can expect to pay approximately $115 per treatment, including the associated kidney tests. Each chelation treatment takes 3 to 4 hours to complete.
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