Chelation Therapy for Coronary Artery Disease?

Chelation therapy has been proposed as a treatment for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). Results published in 2013 from the Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy (TACT) showed that chelation therapy with edetate disodium (EDTA) reduced cardiovascular events in patients with a prior myocardial infarction (MI; NEJM JW Cardiol Apr 24 2013 and JAMA 2013; 309:1241). To verify and replicate these findings, researchers performed the TACT 2 trial in stable patients with diabetes, coronary artery disease (CAD), and prior MI.

In this double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, 959 participants (median age, 67 years; 27% women) received weekly infusions of an EDTA-based chelation solution or matching placebo for 40 weeks. The primary …