Things being a little slow around the ranch right now I thought I would post the following just for general interest of those of us who might be spending more time trying to stay alive than living life.... what ever that might mean... ><<<<<<><><>>>>>>><><>>>>>>>><><> JAMA Study Claims Chelation Therapy Does Not Benefit Heart An alternative therapy called chelation that is touted as a treatment for heart disease is claimed seem to not provide any benefits. During the 27-week study, patients on chelation therapy did not seem to experience any greater improvement on exercise testing than patients on an inactive placebo treatment. Researchers studied chelation therapy using an agent called EDTA. Infusions of EDTA remove lead, iron, copper, calcium and other metals from the body. Since calcium is often present in artery-blocking plaques, proponents of chelation therapy believe that the treatment can alleviate heart disease by removing the mineral. Seventy-eight patients with ischemic heart disease -- caused by reduced blood flow to the heart -- completed the study. For the first 15 weeks of the study, participants received a twice-weekly infusion of either EDTA or a placebo. Patients underwent chelation or placebo once a month for the remaining 12 weeks. All patients also took a multivitamin during the trial. Participants were tested at the start of the study and 15 and 27 weeks later to see how long they could exercise on a treadmill before experiencing reduced blood flow to the heart. They also answered questions about their quality of life. Both groups of patients improved on exercise testing, but the differences were not statistically significant. And neither group was more likely than the other to experience improvements in quality of life, according to the report. But according to the investigator, the results "do not definitively rule out any benefit of chelation therapy in coronary disease in some other aspect of cardiovascular functioning." The study did not address whether chelation therapy affects the rates of death, heart attack, heart failure and hospital admissions. JAMA January 23/30 2002;287:481-486 DR. MERCOLA'S COMMENT: As the other article in this issue suggests, addressing stress is also a key factor. It is not surprising to see a negative chelation study being published in JAMA. There are some serious flaws in the design of this study that clearly limit it from definitively "proving" that chelation therapy does not work. However, many traditional physicians will use it to "prove" that to their patients. I have used chelation therapy for the last 8 years in my practice. It is not a large part of what I do, but I have seen this therapy help turn many people's lives around. It takes a great leap of faith to let someone crack open your chest and put you on a heart lung machine while they attempt to correct blockage in one's coronary arteries. It is actually quite an amazing piece of surgery, but in the vast majority of cases it is the classic example of traditional medicine doing too much too late and not treating the CAUSE of the problem. Bypass surgery is also fraught with huge complications. The odds of surviving bypass surgery have improved since the operation was introduced, but the risk of experiencing a decline in mental function afterwards has remained steady since the 1980s. Signs of this decline may include trouble following directions, mood swings and short tempers. Many doctors have downplayed the importance of any changes in intellectual abilities that occur after bypass, which can affect 50% to 80% of people who have the surgery. But even though decline in mental function is often temporary after bypass surgery, it may predict an increased risk of intellectual decline several years later. Five years after surgery, 42% of bypass patients had experienced a decline in intellectual abilities. This is one of the reasons that I provide chelation therapy. Although I provide this treatment for patients, I refuse to do so unless they are willing to address the cause of their disease, which is usually, but certainly not always, related to their diet and exercise. While chelation therapy seems to work, it is merely a safer band-aid then angioplasty or bypass. None of them treat the cause. Following the diet and exercise are two of the foundational aspects. Additionally one should screen for "hidden" causes of heart disease such as homocysteine and ferritin. Once these issues are addressed you can click on the Surgical Procedure link below to find out how to find an ACAM doctor that can perform EDTA chelation to resolve the artery blockage. You can do a search on www.amazon.com to find many excellent books that review chelation therapy. COMMENT FROM Dr. Elmer Cranton: This is sham science. The researchers based their assumptions of sample size and statistical power using standard deviation of 80 and it was actually over 170 in both groups. The study was therefore underpowered and unable to show any significant results, positive or negative. The authors clearly indicate that in their conclusions. One third of the patients did not even have angina, and the ST changes on treadmill used as an endpoint are nonspecific, with many false positive and false negatives in practice. This was not addressed in the reported results. Almost twice as many patients in the placebo group received antianginal drugs (beta and calcium blockers, nitrates, etc.) and angina was one of the endpoints. Nowhere do the authors state that they have evidence that EDTA was not effective. They merely state that they found "no evidence to support" EDTA, confirming that their study is underpowered and unable to show any significant results, beneficial or not. In other words it is not a negative study, it is not a positive study, it is junk science. There is a final statement at the end of the article, "... larger trials with a broader range of patients will be needed assess the safety and impact of EDTA...," again confirming what they said in the opening abstract, the study was inadequate to show any impact, beneficial or otherwise. So why did they publish a study when the authors clearly state that it is unscientific and statistically so underpowered that it cannot demonstrate anything of meaning? Especially after measuring a wide variance of readings (high standard deviation) that was more than twice their assumption when selecting a sample size. Perhaps the many lucrative full-page color advertisements for cardiovascular drugs and statins throughout the journal give us a clue. This is not a definitive analysis and we have not had time to dissect the published article in detail, but the fact that the authors nowhere state that this is a negative study and admit that there were not enough patients studied to form any conclusion is a good beginning. Related Articles: Surgical Procedure May Not Be Worth the Risk Excess Iron Damages Blood Vessels Homocysteine Link To Heart Disease Five Blood Risk Factors for Coronary Heart Disease Return to Table of Contents #296
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