Effects of Chelation Therapy in Patients affected from Heavy Metal Toxicity from Gold Mining in Loei Province: Case study of Arsenic Toxicity

Abstract

The purpose of this descriptive study (case series) was to determine various clinical signs and symptoms of health effects associated with arsenic exposure from gold mining with chelation therapy. The population that formed the sample were 14 patients at the outpatient department of Wang Saphung Hospital, Loei Province. These patients were admitted during August –December 2015, and were effected by arsenic exposure. They had various clinical signs and symptoms especially arsenical keratosis. The target patients had received chelation therapy 20 times in total at a rate of once a week. The outcome measures of this study were patients’ general health, arsenical keratosis condition and quality of life. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and t-test.

The results of this study showed that 14 patients (6 males and 8 females) who had received chelation therapy, showed improvements in their health and well being. In addition, the arsenical keratosis faded until it was almost invisible in 86% of patients (n=12) and was faded but to a lesser degree in the remaining 14% of patients (n=2). Nevertheless, the pre-test and post test score of quality of life was not statistically significant (x̅ of the pre-test = 93.78 and the post-test =99.21).