A Second Look at Chelation Therapy During COVID-19 as A Viable Option for Treating Cardiac Endothelial Dysfunction

Across the United States and the world, COVID-19 has altered the manner patients are treated and admitted to the hospital. Through this pandemic, bed space has been allocated for the massive on-rush of patients requiring acute assistance with ventilations and survival. There has been a 60% reduction in nonemergent surgeries being postponed due to lack of available beds, due to precautions for COVID exposure, and due to decreased staff available for non-COVID patients [1-3,]. Added to this mix is the fact that patients with pre-existing coronary artery disease (CAD) are more at risk for cardiac injury and complications if exposed to the coronavirus [4]. According to [4] complications from COVID include myocarditis, arrhythmia, and heart failure and are observed in CAD patients (as a result of the COVID virus) and non- CAD patients alike and are permanent. This is due, in part, to the cytokine release syndrome seen in many COVID patients (Ganatra, et al., 2020). The population without CAD issues can simply avoid exposure to the virus to ensure that they will not develop the CAD symptoms; however, the patients with pre-existing CAD may have their conditions exacerbated. Traditional therapies for myocarditis, arrhythmia, and heart failure could entail hospitalization with IV antibiotics, cardiac procedures entailing angiograms, with the result of in-hospital admissions for monitoring and treatment [5-7]. Medical intervention and treatment measures after exacerbation have demonstrated they are significantly more expensive than prevention measures [8].