Xenografted human amniotic membrane-derived mesenchymal stem cells are immunologically tolerated and transdifferentiated into cardiomyocytes.

Rationale: Amniotic membrane is known to have the ability to transdifferentiate into multiple organs and is expected to stimulate a reduced immunologic reaction.

Objective: Determine whether human amniotic membrane-derived mesenchymal cells (hAMCs) can be an ideal allograftable stem cell source for cardiac regenerative medicine.

Methods And Results: We established hAMCs.

Parachute mitral valve incidentally diagnosed in an adult patient with hypertension.

We describe a 52-year-old woman incidentally diagnosed as having parachute mitral valve (PMV). Echocardiography displayed a parachute-like deformity of the mitral valve characterized by a unifocal attachment of mitral valve chordae. PMV is a congenital cardiac malformation that causes stenosis of the mitral valve and is often found in combination with left-heart obstruction in the pediatric population.