Arteriolosclerosis

Arteriolosclerosis
Right breast mammograms showing several calcified arterioles. Patient 94 years old.
Specialty	Cardiology

Arteriolosclerosis is a form of cardiovascular disease involving hardening and loss of elasticity of arterioles or small arteries and is most often associated with hypertension and diabetes mellitus.^[1] Types include hyaline arteriolosclerosis and hyperplastic arteriolosclerosis,^[2] both involved with vessel wall thickening and luminal narrowing that may cause downstream ischemic injury. The following two terms whilst similar, are distinct in both spelling and meaning and may easily be confused with arteriolosclerosis.

• Arteriosclerosis is any hardening (and loss of elasticity) of medium or large arteries (from the Greek arteria, meaning artery, and sclerosis, meaning hardening)
• Atherosclerosis is a hardening of an artery specifically due to an atheromatous plaque. The term atherogenic is used for substances or processes that cause atherosclerosis.