. 2022 Mar 1;11(6):e024648. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.121.024648

Table 2.

Studies With Quantitative Outcomes of Chelation Therapy and Health Outcomes in Patients With Prior Cardiovascular Disease

Author, year Study type	Country	Sample size	Study population	Patient Characteristics			Intervention/comparison	Infusion components	Outcomes	Measure of association
Author, year Study type	Country	Sample size	Study population	Mean age (SD)	% Female	% Diabetes	Intervention/comparison	Infusion components	Outcomes	Measure of association
Casdorph, 1981 ²⁰ Prospective before/after	USA	15	Patients had various diagnoses including: 1 patient with Schizophrenia, 1 patient with Alzheimer’s Disease and cerebral atrophy, 3 patients with cerebral atrophy, 10 patients with cardiovascular disease and/or cerebrovascular accident	68.4 (10.6)	NR	7%	EDTA Number of infusions: ≤20 Vitamin oral supplements: yes	Intervention: 3 g Na₂EDTA in 250 mL or 500 mL of Ringer’s lactate solution	Cerebral B Wave Elevation (measure of brain blood flow curve)	Mean (95% CI) Change: +2.28 (1.76 to 2.79)^*
Casdorph, 1981 ²¹ Prospective before/after	USA	18	Patients with CAD heart disease	60.3 (9.1)	56%	NR	EDTA Number of infusions: ≤20 Vitamin oral supplements: yes	Intervention: 3 g Na₂EDTA in 250 mL of Ringer’s lactate solution	Left ventricle ejection fraction (%)	Mean (95% CI) Change: +5.77 (3.39 to 8.15)^*
McDonagh et al, 1983 ²² Prospective before/after	USA	80	Patients with chronic degenerative disorders, primarily occlusive arterial disease	63.8 (9.2)	43%	NR	EDTA Number of infusions: ≤30 Vitamin oral supplements: yes	Intervention: 3 g Na₂EDTA in 1000 mL of carrier solutions	Blood urea nitrogen (mg/dL)	Mean (95% CI) Change: −1.07 (−2.22 to 0.08)^*
Cheraskin et al, 1984 ²³ Prospective before/after	USA	50	Patients with history of cardiac problems or considered cardiac‐prone based on family history, elevated BP, and/or obesity	60.1 (9.3)	NR	NR	EDTA only vs EDTA+exercise Mean (SD) Number of infusions: 32.9 (12.6) Vitamin oral supplements: yes	Intervention: NR	Heart Rate After Stage I Bruce Test (beats per minute) EDTA only EDTA+exercise SBP After Stage I Bruce Test ^† (mm Hg) EDTA only EDTA+exercise	Mean (95% CI) Change: −6.0 (−10.45 to −1.5)^* −8.5 (−13.74 to −3.3)^* −13.4 (−21.3 to −5.6)^* −13.2 (−21.9 to −4.5)^*
Sehnert et al, 1984 ²⁵ Prospective before/after	USA	13	Patients with CAD, arteriosclerosis and with poor creatinine clearance	NR	NR	NR	EDTA Number of infusions: ≤20 Vitamin oral supplements: yes	Intervention: NR	Creatinine clearance (mL/min per 1.73 cm)	Mean (95% CI) Change: +35.4 (22.6 to 48.2)^* ^, ^‡
McDonagh et al, 1985 ²⁶ Prospective before/after	USA	77	Patients with vascular stenosis	63.4 (9.9)	47%	NR	EDTA Mean (SD) Number of infusions: 26.2 (8.1) Vitamin oral supplements: yes	Intervention: 3 g EDTA	ABI	Mean (95% CI) Change: +0.17 (0.13 to 0.21)^*
Godfrey, 1990 ²⁷ Prospective before/after	New Zealand	27	Patients with PAD in one or both legs with intermittent claudication, pain and/or coldness in feet	68.6 (8.8)	41%	NR	EDTA Number of infusions: ≤23 Vitamin oral supplements: NR	Intervention: NR	ABI	Mean (95% CI) Change: +0.17 (0.12 to 0.21)
Green et al, 1999 ³⁹ Prospective before/after	Australia	8	Patients with CAD and presented to general physician for chelation therapy	59.0 (3.0)	38%	0%	EDTA vs EDTA+vitamins vs saline Number of infusions: ≤11 ^§ Vitamin oral supplements: NR	EDTA only: 1.5 g Na₂EDTA in 500 mL physiological saline EDTA + Vitamins: 1.5 g Na₂EDTA, 20 mEq magnesium, 100 mg nicotinamide, 20 mg decapantothenol, 10 mg thiamine, 5 mg riboflavin, 50 mg pyridoxine, 1 mg cyanocobalamin in 500 mL physiological saline Saline: 500 mL physiological saline	Absolute resting forearm blood flow post treatment (mL/100 mL forearm per min) EDTA EDTA+vitamins Saline only	Mean (SEM) 2.70 (0.37) 2.54 (0.33) 2.76 (0.35)
Öckerman, 2011 ³⁰ Prospective before/after	Sweden	82	Patients ≤85 y and nonsmokers with MI, angina, stroke, or PAD	Range 50 to 81	66%	NR	EDTA Number of infusions: ≤30 Vitamin oral supplements: yes	Intervention: 1.5 g Na₂EDTA, with corresponding amount of magnesium and bicarbonate in 250 mL 5% glucose	Brachial artery stiffness index ^‖ Pulse wave velocity ^‖ (m/s) Pulse wave velocity biological age ^‖ (y) Augmentation index ^‖ (AIX) Erythrocyte fragility test	Mean Change: −104.6^* −1.5^* −21.3^* −12.65^* −11.3^* (negative value reflects benefit)
Born et al, 2013 ³¹ Prospective before/after	USA	33	Patients with CVD	67.6 (8.6)	36%	NR	EDTA Number of infusions: ≤20 Vitamin oral supplements: NR	Intervention: 250 mL solution consisting of 1.5 g Na₂EDTA, 1.2 g magnesium chloride, 0.5 g vitamin C, smaller quantiles of pyridoxine, dexpanthenol, B‐complex, sodium bicarbonate, potassium chloride, procaine, sterile water	SBP (mm Hg) DBP (mm Hg)	Mean (95% CI) Change: −14.61 (−2.79 to −8.42) −2.58 (−5.51 to 0.36)
Lin et al, 2017 ³³ Prospective before/after	Taiwan	30	Patients with CAD	64.9 (6.1)	3%	NR	EDTA Number of infusions: >25 Vitamin oral supplements: Yes	Intervention: 500 mL 5% dextrose in water, 1 g CaNa₂EDTA, 750 mg magnesium sulfate, 5 g ascorbic acid, 5 g sodium bicarbonate	Blood urea nitrogen (mg/dL) Serum creatinine (mg/dL) Brachial diameter (mm) Baseline peak blood flow (mL/s)	Mean (95% CI) Change: +0.40 (−1.58 to 2.38) −0.02 (−0.23 to 0.19) +0.11 (−0.05 to 0.27) +0.31 (−2.17 to 2.79)

ABI indicates Ankle‐Brachial Index; BP, blood pressure; CAD, coronary artery disease; CaNa₂EDTA, calcium disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid; CI, confidence interval; CVD, cardiovascular disease; DBP, diastolic blood pressure; EDTA, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid; MI, myocardial infarction; Na₂EDTA, disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid; NR, not reported; PAD, peripheral artery disease; SBP, systolic blood pressure; SD, standard deviation; and SEM, standard error of means.

Reported as statistically significant.

^{^†}

McDonagh et al (1984). ²⁴

^{^‡}

Baseline mean (SD): 62.5 (14.8) mL/min per 1.73 cm.

^{^§}

Each subject underwent each treatment arm. Number of infusions is number per treatment arm.

^{^‖}

Subset of total sample size used in analysis.