With age the calcium content of the arterial wall increases. Calcification occurs at two main levels: intimal plaques and the medial elastic fibre network. The latter has been referred to as medial elastocalcinosis and is the subject of this review. The mechanisms involved in elastocalcinosis are complex and involve polar, apolar and active processes. Vascular calcification may be species-specific to man. As laboratory animals such as the rat grow old they suffer from only very mild arterial calcification. Different animal models of induction of massive arterial calcification by pharmacological and other means exist. Although extrapolation from such models to the clinical situation in terms of aetiology is difficult, such models could be useful in the non clinical study of the pathophysiological consequences of vascular calcification. Vascular calcification modifies arterial wall stiffness and this could have clinically significant consequences on cardiac function and downstream circulatory control.