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Updated: Mar 24, 2026

Calcification of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells and Imaging of Aortic Calcification and Inflammation
Published on: May 31, 2016
Generalized Arterial Calcification in a Recipient Twin: Discordant Fetal Hemodynamics Result in Differing Phenotypes
Jodie K Votava-Smith1, Pisit Pitukcheewanont, Linda M Randolph
1Division of Cardiology, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Calif., USA.
Abstract:
Recipients of the twin-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) often develop cardiac manifestations, but arterial calcification has rarely been reported. Generalized arterial calcification of infancy (GACI) is a genetic disorder with high infantile mortality. We report the case of a TTTS recipient with moderate cardiomyopathy at diagnosis who developed progressive calcification of the pulmonary arteries and aorta after successful in utero laser therapy. Postnatally, both twins were diagnosed with a heterozygous ABCC6 gene mutation associated with GACI. The recipient had progressive supravalvular pulmonary and aortic stenosis, was treated with bisphosphonate therapy, and successfully underwent cardiac surgery at 4 months of age. The donor twin with the same mutation remained phenotypically normal at 15 months of age. This case illustrates monozygotic fetuses with discordant in utero hemodynamics, with subsequent development of phenotypic differences. TTTS recipients with arterial calcifications should undergo genetic testing for GACI.
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