It became increasingly difficult for 68-year-old Frank Tummarello to walk the block, climb the stairs of his beach house or do any other activity he loved. Previously treated for atrial fibrillation (AFib), doctors couldn’t determine what caused Tummarello’s decline in health.
Then he was diagnosed with the condition called cardiac amyloidosis, also called stiff heart.
In this article for Ivanhoe Broadcast News, Tummarello and Rene Alvarez, MD, Vice Chief of Cardiology and Medical Director of Temple University Hospital’s Heart Failure/Cardiac Transplantation Program, discuss cardiac amyloidosis, its impact on Tummarello’s daily life and how a heart transplant helped him return to the activities he loves.
