The golden age bracket for cardiovascular chelation therapy begins in the late thirties and extends even into the eighties and nineties. Our oldest patient was eighty-eight and had good results. Although the treatment is more commonly used as a therapeutic modality, it is also most effective as a preventive measure. But this need not be, because arteriosclerosis is preventable and reversible. An ounce of preventive chelation is better than a pound of chelation cure.
Every medical therapy includes some degree of risk, and chelation is no exception.
Although hundreds of thousands of treatments have now been given without serious reactions, the patient should be informed of the possible risks involved. When EDTA is properly administered by a physician, using a slow intravenous drip in proper concentrations, it is essentially non-toxic and generally produces no side effects. Pain at the local site of injection can be promptly controlled. If the infusion is too rapid it can cause an aching, which extends up the arm to the shoulder. Other side effects occur, but are infrequent and transient.