Dr. Terry Chappell testified before a Congressional committee, served on the NIH review committee for funding, and later treated patients as an investigator in the randomized, controlled clinical trial that has many cardiologists taking a second look at this controversial therapy for heart disease.

At the American Heart Association meeting in Los Angeles on Nov. 4, Dr. Gervasio Lamas presented the Trial to Assess Chelation (TACT).  

This randomized, controlled study of 1708 patients showed that treatment with intravenous EDTA chelation therapy in addition to standard, evidence-based therapy decreased a composite of subsequent cardiac events for treated patients compared to those who received placebo.

           
Cardiac events included death, heart attacks, strokes, the need for cardiovascular surgery, and hospitalization for severe angina. 

Overall, the reduction in cardiac events was statistically significant with a greater difference the longer the patient was studied, up to five years.  Treatments were given for 30 weekly sessions, followed by 10 more IVs, approximately one a month.
           
Bluffton family practitioner Terry Chappell, M.D. has been providing chelation therapy since 1981, and has published several research studies and review articles about the therapy. 

He was called to testify before Congress about chelation, and as a result of the hearing, the NIH asked for research proposals.  Dr. Chappell served as the expert chelation member of the review panel to evaluate the proposals.  Later, he joined the study.  39 of his patients participated over the 7 years of the study.
           
All of the patients in the study had previously documented heart attacks.  The results showed effectiveness reducing cardiac Diabetic patients appeared to do particularly well.
           
The authors concluded that intravenous EDTA chelation therapy is safe and that the therapy demonstrated an important treatment signal in post-MI patients who were already on evidenced-based therapy. 

The findings were unexpected, and additional research is needed to confirm them.  Studies to explore the mechanism of action are also needed.
           
Chelation therapy has been controversial since the 1950’s, and some cardiologists are skeptical about the results of this study.  However, the AMA called for randomized clinical trials in the 1980’s. 

Cardiologists from such prestigious medical schools as the Cleveland Clinic, the Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins, and OSU joined with experienced chelation doctors for a total of 134 sites in TACT in the U.S. and Canada.  The results speak for themselves.  Obviously, there is more work to be done for definitive answers.

History of Chelation for Cardiovascular Disease, written by Dr. Chappell http://chelation.me