Since the emergence of the new syndrome. which was termed multiple organ system failure (MOSF) about 20 years ago, a lot of clinical and experimental studies have been reported both abroad and at home. Nevertheless, there are still controversies concerning its concept and diagnosis since the term is not precisely defined and its differential diagnosis with other irrelevant clinical conditions such as senile dysfunction of many organs, agonal state, etc remains unclarified. As MOSF occurs as a rule after a septic state and under intricate interactions among many humoral and cellular mediators, it is suggested that the diagnosis of MOSF should at least include 2 coexisted conditions, i. e., septic response and organ failure.

Inasmuch as the diagnosis of MOSF at present designates only the terminal state of a series of pathophysiological processes, namely, systemic inflammatory response, sepsis, septic syndrome and MOSF. it is not easy to establish an early diagnosis, which is of utmost importance in the prevention and prompt management for this fatal syndrome. In the light of current studies, we proposed that the name of the syndrome be changed to 'sepsis and organ dysfunction' or 'mediator injury of organs'.