 | Joseph P. Galichia, MD is the founder and Medical Director of the Galichia Medical Group, PA. He is an internationally recognized pioneer in the field of interventional cardiology. In the 70's, Dr. Galichia studied in Zurich, Switzerland with the inventors of the balloon angioplasty technique for treating heart disease. As a result of his experience, he was able to bring this historic technique back to the United States where he was one of the first physicians to perform coronary angioplasty here. A noted medical spokesman, he appears on a weekly Newstalk segment on KWCH Channel 12 and has a weekly syndicated radio talk show on KNSS 1330 AM every Saturday live from 11:00 am to noon. Dr. Galichia may be contacted by sending an e-mail to service@galichia.com |
Health & Medicine
2001-11-01 14:47:00
Atherosclerosis & chelation therapy
Question: What is atherosclerosis? What are the options if one has been diagnosed with this condition? Is chelation therapy and option? What is it?
Answer: Atherosclerosis is a build up of fatty material in the walls of arteries. This causes the artery to narrow and causes stiffness and resistance to flow within the arteries. The plaque in the artery may itself become unstable and close the artery off resulting in catastrophic events such as heart attack and stroke, or the diminution in flow itself may result in chronic symptoms due to lack of oxygen and blood flow in various organs. These arteries are also subject to closing off abruptly. Because any organ system can be effected and the body can be effected, the specific treatment depends on which organ is effected. For instance, blocked arteries in the heart are extremely common and often lead to balloon dilatation procedures, stenting, or bypass surgery in an attempt to mechanically correct the problem. However, we are more concerned now about trying to stabilize this disease process with measures such as diet, exercise, and the use of statin drugs and other cholesterol lowering agents. The use of anti-platelet drugs, such as aspirin, and newer drugs, such as Plavix, has been found to help greatly. Furthermore, ACE inhibitors, commonly used to treat hypertension, and beta-blockers may provide more stability to the plaques. Simple measures such as not smoking, maintaining a normal blood pressure, getting plenty of exercise, eating a healthy diet, and maintaining a normal cholesterol are extremely important in this equation. Chelation therapy is a treatment designed to reduce plaque formation or attempt to reduce the amount of plaque that already exists. This therapy has never been proven scientifically and, thus, is not funded by insurance companies or Medicare in this country. Nevertheless, thousands of Americans undergo this treatment, often with anecdotal success. The treatment consists of weekly infusions of IV medication and is relatively costly. Most chelation therapists charge in the neighborhood of $100 per session. This treatment is not entirely safe in that some individuals develop renal failure while taking the medication, but by in large, the index of safety is relatively high. The lack of firm scientific evidence and the cost of this intervention, both in terms of time loss from work and the cost of the infusions themselves, have made this a therapy not considered to be mainstream by American physicians at this time. There are scientific studies being done to look at chelation therapy and evaluate it more objectively.
