Heart Disease Community

Thanks Byroney!

have a question about something not about this topic...i get really tired after 5min in to a sport and some time i start breathing really hard.can u help?
Thank u

Is EDTA effective in clearing clogged arteries? I have an artery that was treated with a bypass 2 years ago. It is now 75% clogged. I have been advised that it cannot be treated surgically due to where it is located. I am left feeling another heart attack can occur at anytime which in all likely hood result in death.

Is EDTA effective in clearing clogged arteries? I have an artery that was treated with a bypass 2 years ago. It is now 75% clogged. I have been advised that it cannot be treated surgically due to where it is located. I am left feeling another heart attack can occur at anytime which in all likely hood result in death.

Chelation therapy with EDTA is not an approved or effect treatment for atherosclerosis. From the AHA;

Chelation therapy is administering a man-made amino acid called EDTA into the veins. (EDTA is an abbreviation for ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid. It's marketed under several names, including Edetate, Disodium, Endrate, and Sodium Versenate.) EDTA is most often used in cases of heavy metal poisoning (lead or mercury). That's because it can latch onto or bind these metals, creating a compound that can be excreted in the urine.
Besides binding heavy metals, EDTA also "chelates" (naturally seeks out and binds) calcium, one of the components of atherosclerotic plaque. In the early 1960s, this led to speculation that EDTA could remove calcium deposits from buildups in arteries. The idea was that once the calcium was removed by regular treatments of EDTA, the remaining elements in the plaque would break up and the plaque would clear away. The narrowed arteries would be restored to their former state.

Based upon this thinking, chelation therapy has been proposed to treat existing atherosclerosis and to prevent it from forming.

After carefully reviewing all the available scientific literature on this subject, the American Heart Association has concluded that the benefits claimed for this form of therapy aren't scientifically proven. That's why we don't recommend this type of treatment.

EDTA isn't totally safe as a drug. There's a real danger of kidney failure. (renal tubular necrosis). EDTA can also cause bone marrow depression, shock, low blood pressure (hypotension), convulsions, disturbances of regular heart rhythm (cardiac arrhythmias), allergic-type reactions and respiratory arrest.

In fact, a number of deaths in the United States have been linked with chelation therapy. Also, some people are on dialysis because of kidney failure caused, at least in part, by chelation therapy.

The American Heart Association is concerned that some people who rely on this therapy may delay undergoing proven therapies like drugs or surgery until it's too late. This is the added danger of relying on an unproven "miracle cure."

More;

What's the American Heart Association's position?
We have a task force that examines the medical support for new and unestablished therapies, of which chelation is one. The report of the task force was adopted by the American Heart Association as our official policy statement on chelation therapy. This report states:
The American Heart Association's Clinical Science Committee has reviewed the available literature on the use of chelation (EDTA) in the treatment of arteriosclerotic heart or blood vessel disease and finds no scientific evidence to demonstrate any benefit of this form of therapy. Furthermore, employment of this form of unproven treatment may deprive patients of the well-established benefits attendant to the many other valuable methods of treating these diseases.

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health:
There is no reason to expect benefit from chelation in the management of arteriosclerosis. More importantly, there has been no scientific evidence of such benefit — and there is scientific evidence of no benefit.

American College of Cardiology:
There is insufficient scientific evidence to justify the application of chelation therapy for atherosclerosis on a clinical basis. At the present time, therefore, chelation therapy should be applied only under an investigational protocol.

American Medical Association:
The AMA believes that chelation therapy for atherosclerosis is an experimental process without proven efficacy. They have also reaffirmed their 1984 House of Delegates Resolution stating:
""026there is no scientific documentation that the use of chelation therapy is effective in the treatment of cardiovascular disease, atherosclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and cancer;

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3000843

By the way, great job, really enjoyed it.

Tony