You Were Told You Need Bypass Surgery. There Is Another Way.

Your Cardiologist Said You Need Bypass Surgery or Stents. Now What?

If you are reading this, you are probably scared. You may have been told your arteries are blocked and you need surgery. The thought of someone cutting open your chest, stopping your heart, and rerouting your blood vessels is terrifying. The weeks of recovery. The risk that something goes wrong on the operating table.

We understand. And we want you to know: surgery is not always your only option.

EDTA chelation therapy has been used for over 60 years as a non-surgical approach to heart disease. It does not involve cutting, anaesthesia, or hospitalisation. It is an IV drip given in a comfortable chair at our clinic. You drive yourself home afterwards. And for many patients, it has made the difference between living in fear of surgery and living a normal, active life.

This approach is part of integrative medicine, where treatments are selected based on individual patient needs and may be used alongside or in consideration of conventional medical care.

What Is Chelation Therapy?

The word "chelation" comes from the Greek word chele, meaning claw. That is exactly what happens: we infuse a substance called EDTA into your bloodstream through an IV drip, and it grabs onto toxic metals — like a claw — and carries them out of your body through your kidneys.

EDTA (ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid) is a synthetic amino acid. It was originally developed in the 1950s to treat lead poisoning. Doctors quickly noticed something unexpected: patients who received chelation for lead poisoning also reported that their heart symptoms improved dramatically. Their chest pain eased. Their circulation got better. Their energy returned.

That observation — over 70 years ago — launched chelation therapy as a treatment for heart disease. Since then, millions of patients have been treated worldwide.

How Does Chelation Help Your Heart?

To understand this, you need to understand what actually damages your arteries in the first place.

Throughout your life, toxic heavy metals accumulate in your body — lead from old water pipes, mercury from seafood and dental fillings, cadmium from pollution and food, arsenic from contaminated water. These metals build up in your tissues over decades. Lead stored in your bones has a half-life of 20 to 30 years.

These metals are not just sitting there. They are actively causing damage every day. They act as catalysts for a chemical reaction (the Fenton reaction) that produces destructive molecules called free radicals. These free radicals:

• Damage the lining of your artery walls
• Oxidise your LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol, making it sticky and prone to forming plaque
• Trigger inflammation that accelerates plaque build-up
• Impair your body's ability to produce nitric oxide (which keeps arteries flexible)

This is a significant contributing factor in arterial disease. Not just cholesterol — but the metals that make cholesterol dangerous.

Chelation Does Not Work Like a Drain Cleaner

Some people think chelation works by dissolving plaque — like pouring drain cleaner down a pipe. That is not how it works. And this misunderstanding has been used to discredit chelation for decades.

Here is what actually happens:

Think of it this way: bypass surgery is like building a detour around a pothole. Chelation is like removing the thing that keeps creating potholes.

The Evidence: A $30 Million NIH Study

We believe in being honest with our patients. Here is what the science shows:

The TACT trial (Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy) was funded by the US National Institutes of Health for approximately $30 million. It was a proper double-blind, placebo-controlled study — the gold standard of medical research. 1,708 patients who had suffered a heart attack were followed for years.

In the interest of full transparency: a follow-up trial (TACT2, 2024) did not replicate the diabetic findings. However, researchers noted that TACT2 participants had 30% lower baseline lead levels than TACT1 participants — suggesting that chelation benefits those with higher toxic metal burdens most. This makes biological sense: if chelation works by removing metals, it helps most when there are more metals to remove.

Chelation vs Bypass Surgery

Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD) & Circulation Problems

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) — also called peripheral vascular disease (PVD) — occurs when atherosclerosis narrows the arteries supplying blood to your legs, feet, and extremities. The same process that blocks coronary arteries blocks these vessels too. Symptoms include:

Conventional PAD treatment typically involves medications (blood thinners, statins), angioplasty with stents in the leg arteries, or surgical bypass. But EDTA chelation therapy works in every artery simultaneously — coronary (heart), carotid (neck), and peripheral (legs and feet). By removing the heavy metals that drive arterial damage, chelation addresses the underlying cause of PAD across the entire vascular system.

The TACT trial showed the strongest benefits in patients with both diabetes and vascular disease — exactly the population most affected by PAD. Many patients at CancerSA in Centurion report improved walking distance, warmer feet, and reduced leg pain after a course of chelation therapy.

Chelation for Diabetic Circulation Problems

If you have diabetes, your blood vessels are under attack from two directions: high blood sugar damages the vessel lining (endothelial dysfunction — where the inner surface of your blood vessels stops working properly), and accumulated heavy metals amplify the free radical damage. This combination accelerates atherosclerosis (plaque build-up in the arteries), particularly in the small vessels of the feet, legs, kidneys, and eyes. The result: poor circulation, diabetic neuropathy (numbness, tingling, burning in feet), slow wound healing, diabetic ulcers, and in severe cases, amputation risk.

Why such dramatic results? Diabetic blood vessels are especially vulnerable to heavy metal-driven oxidative stress. Removing lead, cadmium, and excess iron with chelation reduces this toxic burden, allowing improved microcirculation (blood flow through the smallest blood vessels that supply the feet, toes, and nerves). Patients with diabetic neuropathy (nerve damage causing numbness, tingling, or burning in the feet), diabetic foot problems, and poor leg circulation may benefit significantly.

If you have diabetes with numbness in your feet, tingling legs, cold extremities, slow-healing wounds, or you have been warned about amputation risk — discuss chelation therapy with Dr Pretorius. The TACT evidence specifically supports its use in diabetic vascular disease.

Atherosclerosis: Hardening of the Arteries

Atherosclerosis — commonly called hardening of the arteries — is the underlying disease behind most heart attacks, strokes, and peripheral artery disease. Plaque (a mixture of cholesterol, calcium, fibrous tissue, and cellular debris) builds up inside your artery walls, narrowing them and restricting blood flow. When plaque ruptures, it triggers a blood clot that can block the artery entirely — causing a heart attack or stroke.

What drives atherosclerosis? The conventional answer is "cholesterol and lifestyle." But an increasingly recognised factor is toxic heavy metals. Lead, cadmium, mercury, and excess iron generate free radicals via the Fenton reaction — highly reactive molecules that damage the endothelium (the delicate inner lining of your artery walls), oxidise LDL cholesterol into its "sticky" form, and trigger the chronic inflammation that builds plaque. This is why people with significant heavy metal exposure develop coronary artery disease (CAD — blocked heart arteries), carotid artery disease (narrowing of the neck arteries that supply the brain), and peripheral artery disease (PAD — reduced blood flow to the legs and feet) faster than their metal burden alone would predict.

EDTA chelation removes these metals from the bloodstream and tissues. Without the catalysts driving ongoing damage, the body's natural repair mechanisms can begin to stabilise and heal damaged arteries. Chelation works in every artery simultaneously — coronary, carotid, cerebral, renal, and peripheral — which is why patients often report improvements in multiple areas at once: less angina, better circulation in the legs, clearer thinking, and improved energy.

If you have been diagnosed with atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease, carotid stenosis (narrowing of neck arteries), ischaemic heart disease (reduced blood supply to the heart), or a high coronary calcium score, chelation therapy may be worth exploring as part of your management plan.

Do You Have Heavy Metals in Your Body?

Almost certainly. Unless you have lived your entire life in a sealed bubble, you have accumulated heavy metals from everyday sources:

A urine challenge test at our clinic can measure exactly what metals you are carrying and at what levels. Many patients are shocked by the results. Knowing your toxic metal burden is the first step toward removing it.

Conditions That Benefit From Chelation

Because heavy metals damage virtually every system in your body, removing them has far-reaching benefits:

Chelation as Anti-Ageing Medicine

If free radicals drive the ageing process — and they do — then removing the metals that produce them is one of the most direct anti-ageing interventions available.

Many chelation patients report benefits they were not expecting:

• More energy and stamina
• Clearer thinking and sharper memory
• Better circulation — warmer hands and feet
• Improved skin tone and elasticity
• Reduced joint pain and stiffness
• Better sleep quality
• Greater sense of overall vitality

This is why many integrative practitioners consider chelation widely used in anti-ageing medicine. You do not need to be ill to benefit — you just need to be alive in a world full of toxic metals.

Chelation for Cancer Patients

If you are a cancer patient, chelation serves a specific purpose: removing the heavy metals that suppress the very immune system you need to fight your cancer.

Arsenic, cadmium, chromium, and nickel are all classified as Group 1 carcinogens by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). A landmark 18-year follow-up study from Switzerland found a significant reduction in cancer mortality (Blumer & Reich, 1984, Journal of Advancement in Medicine) in patients who had received chelation compared to untreated controls from the same neighbourhood.

At Cancer SA, chelation is part of the integrative cancer protocol alongside IPTLD, IV Vitamin C, and bio-oxidative therapy.

What to Expect

Is Chelation Therapy Safe?

EDTA chelation has been administered to millions of patients worldwide over more than 60 years. In both NIH-funded TACT trials, chelation patients had no more serious side effects than those receiving a placebo. The most common side effects are mild — a slight warmth at the IV site, temporary fatigue, or a headache that passes quickly.

Your kidney function and mineral levels are monitored throughout treatment. Because EDTA also removes some beneficial minerals alongside the toxic ones, we provide mineral supplementation between sessions to keep everything in balance.

Compare that to bypass surgery: a 1.5–3% death rate, general anaesthesia, weeks of hospitalisation, months of recovery, and the risk of complications including stroke, infection, and cognitive decline. Chelation is a simple IV drip in a comfortable chair. There is no comparison.

Cost and What to Know Before You Start