Effects of antioxidant and chelation therapy in coronary artery disease patients with elevated lead or cadmium levels

Chelation therapy may decrease the amount of heavy metals in the body, thus decrease the side effects of these toxic materials in affecting the health of our body. Thirty coronary artery disease (CAD) patients with elevated either lead or cadmium level were studied for 6 months to assess whether antioxidant and ethylenediamine tetra-acetic acid (EDTA) chelation therapy have beneficial impacts in adiponectin level, endothelial progenitor cell (EPC) numbers, and ultrasonic endothelial function. Results revealed that lead and cadmium levels in blood and urine were reduced significantly after 3-month of antioxidant and chelation therapy (P<0.001). It decreased further after 6-month therapy (P<0.001). The adiponectin level increased significantly after 3-month treatment (P<0.005), it increased further after 6-month treatment (P<0.05 compared with those of 3-month data). The study patients exhibited a significant increase in the EPC numbers of the 3-month (3.57×10⁵) and 6-month (4.13×10⁵) data compared to that of baseline (2.99×10⁵) (P<0.001) after antioxidant and chelation therapy. The ultrasonic endothelial function analysis also revealed a progressive increase in the flow increase during reactive hyperemia (FIRH) and flow mediated dilation (FMD) after 3- and 6-month of treatments (P<0.05 compared with baseline data). In conclusion, this study demonstrated that antioxidant and chelation therapy is capable of increasing the adiponectin level, EPC numbers, and ultrasonic parameters of FIRH and FMD, which suggest that this therapy may have favorable impacts in CAD patients with elevated heavy metal levels.