Update on Landmark Study for Chelation Therapy

by Dr. Angelique Hart, M.D.

Chelation Therapy is an intravenous treatment used to remove heavy metals, and has been used not only for detoxification purposes, but also to treat patients with heart disease. Because of the wide spread use and claims for chelation therapy, a study was designed to investigate the safety and efficacy of chelation therapy in patients with known heart disease. I was one of the investigators in the TACT 1 Trial (Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy). The initial results were very encouraging, showing chelation to be very safe and beneficial for patients with heart disease. After further evaluation of the 1/3 of the participants that had diabetes, we realized that this group had amazing outcomes that warranted more study. Heart disease is more common in diabetics as high blood sugars lead to inflammation of the arteries causing atherosclerosis with resultant reduction in blood flow.

TACT2 Study Update: May 30, 2018
Provided by the office of TACT2 Study Chairman, Dr. Gervasio Lamas:

Funding for TACT2 was announced in September of 2016 when The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded $37M to initiate the trial. The trial is also co-funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

TACT2 follows up on the positive results of TACT, an NIH-sponsored multicenter, double-blind safety and efficacy study, which took place from 2002- 2012 and was conducted in 134 sites across the United States and Canada. During TACT, 1,708 people with previous heart attacks were randomly assigned to receive 40 infusions of an edetate disodium-based chelation solution or a placebo (inactive) infusion. Research participants also received an oral vitamin and mineral regimen, or an oral placebo.

TACT demonstrated an 18% reduction in recurrent heart events by chelation in research participants who already had sustained a heart attack. Recurrent heart events measured in the study were death, heart attack, stroke, heart bypass or stent, and hospitalization for angina (chest pains). In 633 diabetic research participants, there was an even larger benefit with a 41% reduction in recurrent heart events and a 43% reduction in deaths. Based on these results, the Mount Sinai and Duke scientists who conducted the trial felt that a repeat study was important to carry out.

TACT2 will narrow its focus to the group with the greatest benefit in the original study – diabetics 50- years of age or older who have survived a prior heart attack. To date, 389 of 1,200 subjects have been randomized.

“If TACT2 is positive, it will forever change the way we treat heart attack patients and view toxic metals in the environment,” said Gervasio Lamas, M.D., study chairman and chief of the Columbia Division of Cardiology at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, Florida. “Therefore, with NIH support and in collaboration with the Duke Clinical Research Institute, Columbia University, New York University, Mount Sinai (NYC), and hundreds of physicians and nurses throughout the U.S. and Canada, we are moving forward with TACT2.”

To read the original article click below on Truly Alive