Chelation Therapy for Cardiovascular Disease: Bringing it Back to the Future

Chelation therapy, spending several decades in obscurity, has emerged as a potential intervention to benefit patients with prior myocardial infarctions, and especially in those with diabetes. While many questions remain unanswered, the TACT1 trial presents strong evidence in support of the benefits of IV EDTA and OMVM on reducing total mortality and recurrent cardiac events, with the most dramatic results observed in the diabetic patients. The upcoming TACT2 trial will further investigate the benefits of IV chelation in diabetic patients, with the hope to obtain FDA approval for the promising intervention.