Abstract: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is the most common complication in critically ill patients, and is also an independent risk factor for unfavorable outcomes. There are no specific drugs for AKI at the present time. The mortality rate is higher in dialysis dependent AKI patients. It is insufficient to improve the outcome of AKI patients by merely focusing on kidney injury and renal dysfunction. Recent basic and clinical researches show that there is a complex cross-talk between kidney and other organs. This review aims to give a brief introduction about the recent progress and potential therapeutic targets in organ cross-talk between kidney and other organs (heart, lung and liver) in AKI, in order to provide new ideas for clinical treatment and prevention of multiple organ failure after AKI.

Key words: acute kidney injury, distant organ, inflammation, ischemia reperfusion injury