Arteriolosclerosis is a form of cardiovascular disease affecting the small arteries and arterioles.

Types include hyaline arteriolosclerosis

Hyaline arteriolosclerosis

Hyaline arteriolosclerosis, also arterial hyalinosis and arteriolar hyalinosis, refers to thickening of the walls of arterioles by the deposition of homogeneous pink hyaline material...

 and hyperplastic arteriolosclerosis

Hyperplastic arteriolosclerosis

Hyperplastic arteriolosclerosis is a type of arteriolosclerosis involving a narrowed lumen.The term "onion-skin" is sometimes used to describe this form of vessel with thickened concentric smooth muscle cell layer and thickened, duplicated basement membrane. In malignant hypertension these...

, both associated with vessel wall

Blood vessel

The blood vessels are the part of the circulatory system that transports blood throughout the body. There are three major types of blood vessels: the arteries, which carry the blood away from the heart; the capillaries, which enable the actual exchange of water and chemicals between the blood and...

 thickening and luminal

Luminal

Luminal may refer to:* A trade name for the anti-epileptic drug phenobarbital* Luminal , a 2004 film by Italian director Andrea Vecchiato starring Denis Lavant* In biology, pertaining to the lumen, the interior of a hollow structure...

 narrowing that may cause downstream ischemic injury. Arteriolosclerosis is most often associated with hypertension

Hypertension

Hypertension or high blood pressure is a cardiac chronic medical condition in which the systemic arterial blood pressure is elevated. What that means is that the heart is having to work harder than it should to pump the blood around the body. Blood pressure involves two measurements, systolic and...

 and/or diabetes mellitus

Diabetes mellitus

Diabetes mellitus, often simply referred to as diabetes, is a group of metabolic diseases in which a person has high blood sugar, either because the body does not produce enough insulin, or because cells do not respond to the insulin that is produced...

.

The following terms are similar, yet distinct, in both spelling and meaning, and can be easily confused: arteriosclerosis

Arteriosclerosis

Arteriosclerosis refers to a stiffening of arteries.Arteriosclerosis is a general term describing any hardening of medium or large arteries It should not be confused with "arteriolosclerosis" or "atherosclerosis".Also known by the name "myoconditis" which is...

, arteriolosclerosis, and atherosclerosis. Arteriosclerosis is a general term describing any hardening (and loss of elasticity) of medium or large arteries (from the Greek arteria, meaning artery, and sclerosis, meaning hardening); arteriolosclerosis is any hardening (and loss of elasticity) of arteriole

Arteriole

An arteriole is a small diameter blood vessel in the microcirculation that extends and branches out from an artery and leads to capillaries.Arterioles have muscular walls and are the primary site of vascular resistance...

s (small arteries); 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.