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By Mayo Clinic staffIn chelation therapy, a dose of a medication called ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) is delivered through an intravenous (IV) line. This medication seeks out and binds to minerals in your bloodstream. Once the medication binds to the minerals, it creates a compound that leaves your body in your urine.
Chelation therapy is a proven treatment for lead or mercury poisoning. Some doctors think that chelation therapy could begin to reverse heart disease by binding to the calcium in the plaques clogging your arteries and sweeping it away. No study has proved that this process actually works.
- Questions and answers about chelation therapy. American Heart Association. http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3000843. Accessed July 7, 2010.
- Trial to assess chelation therapy. National Institutes of Health. http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00044213. Accessed July 7, 2010.
- Questions and answers: The NIH trial of EDTA chelation therapy for coronary artery disease. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. http://nccam.nih.gov/health/chelation/. Accessed July 7, 2010.
- Seely DMR, et al. EDTA chelation therapy for cardiovascular disease: A systematic review. BMC Cardiovascular Diseases. 2005;5:32.
- Knudtson ML, et al. Chelation therapy for ischemic heart disease: A randomized, controlled trial. Journal of the American Medical Association. 2002;287:481.
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