Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) is a challenging problem for intensivists, frequently the complicating clinical course of critically ill patients, increasing their severity status and worsening their outcome once it has been triggered.

The especial characteristics of the ICU patients diminish the usefulness of the conventional methods of AKI detection (measurement of serum creatinine or estimation of creatinine clearance) in a moment when new insights on the kinetics of creatinine are challenging our previous ideas about incidence, severity, and impact of AKI in this setting.

New ways to detect and measure renal damage are needed in the ICU setting and the search for a “renal troponin” or for the definition of a “renal angina state” must be a priority if we really are going to have an impact in the development and evolution of this serious affection.

Early detection of kidney derangement is crucial to direct our resuscitation efforts and, most of all, to apply secondary preventive measures to diminish kidney damage and improve the prognosis of these patients.

We invite authors to submit original research as well as review articles regarding all aspects of AKI in the critical care setting, particularly those related to AKI impact (epidemiology and outcome), early detection and measurement of kidney damage (structural and functional biomarkers), and impact of new stratification systems (AKIN/RIFLE/KDIGO) in our practice. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• AKI epidemiology in the ICU setting
• Risk stratification of renal damage: RIFLE, AKIN, and KDIGO
• Glomerular filtration rate measurement in critically ill patients
• Serum creatinine kinetics
• Volume status and its repercussion in kidney function
• Role of new biomarkers: functional and structural damage
• The renal angina concept
• Urinary flow as marker of kidney function
• Secondary prevention of AKI in the ICU

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ccrp/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/ according to the following timetable: