While most people are aware of the general functions of their heart, lungs, or brain, the functions of the kidney are rarely thought of or referred to in day-to-day life. Throughout your life, your kidneys quietly perform their important tasks without your knowledge. However, if a pathological process affects the function of the kidneys, you will quickly become sick and the situation may become life threatening. In this chapter, we will explore various pathologies that impact the kidneys on both a gross and histological level, as well as some of the clinical correlations that come with acute kidney injury (AKI), which is defined as a rapid decrease in kidney function.

This chapter is subdivided into:

• Pre-test
• Gross & Microscopic anatomy of kidney anatomy
• Physiology or urine formation
• Gross anatomy of normal kidney
• Histology of normal kidney
• Clinical presentations of AKI
• Gross Pathology of AKI
• Histopathology of AKI
• Treatment and prognosis of AKI
• Consequences of AKI in other systems
• Diagnosis of AKI and interprofessional collaboration
• Chapter Summary
• Post-test

Abbreviations

The following abbreviations are used throughout the chapter.