A hemodialysis system comprising: a source of priming fluid; an extracorporeal circuit including an arterial line, a venous line, and a drip chamber; a level sensor operable with the drip chamber; a reversible blood pump operable with the extracorporeal circuit; a connection between the arterial and the venous line; and a priming sequence in which priming fluid from the source is pumped in a reverse pump direction through the extracorporeal circuit and reversibly in a normal pump direction through the extracorporeal circuit, wherein an output from the level sensor is used to determine when to stop pumping in at least one of the directions.

The present invention relates to methods of prognosing the survival of a diseased subject, particularly a subject with chronic kidney disease (CKD), as well as selecting an end-stage renal disease subject for a kidney transplant. The methods involve detecting an elevated amount of macrophage inhibitory cytoking-1 (MID-1) in a test body sample from the diseased subject. A method of preventing or reducing the risk of death in a CKD subject which involves removing or inactivating MIC-1 present in the blood, plasma or serum of the subject, is also disclosed.

An extracorporeal blood filtering machine can include a blood circuit, an effluent circuit, and a source fluid circuit and can be controlled by a controller. The extracorporeal blood filtering machine can also include access ports for connecting the source fluid circuit to the blood circuit, as well as blood sensors to detect possible issues with the extracorporeal blood filtering machine. The extracorporeal blood filtering machine can include density sensors and flow sensors that enable it to be more accurate and to operate while being transported. The extracorporeal blood filtering machine can further include a user interface and can display fluid inflow/outflow information. A medical fluid container can automatically empty after being filled. An apparatus for supporting a medical fluid container can include a hanger and an attachment member with the apparatus able to adjust to ensure the medical fluid container remains properly oriented directly under a medical fluid container scale.

A dialysis fluid connection method is disclosed herein. In an example, the method includes providing a double lumen tube including a first tube lumen and a second tube lumen. The method also includes providing a connector device having a first end connected to the double lumen tube. The connector device includes a first device lumen positioned and arranged to fluidly communicate with the first tube lumen and a second device lumen positioned and arranged to fluidly communicate with the second tube lumen. The method further includes enabling a filter unit to be connected to the connector device such that a first medium flowing through the first tube lumen and the first device lumen to the filter unit is different than a second medium flowing from the filter unit, through the second tube lumen and the second device lumen.

A dialysis system includes a dialysis fluid cassette-based membrane blood pump; a dialyzer in fluid communication with the blood pump; first and second dialysis fluid cassette-based balance chambers each having (i) a fresh dialysis fluid compartment in fluid communication with the dialyzer and (ii) a spent dialysis fluid compartment; a dialysis fluid cassette-based fresh dialysis fluid membrane pump in fluid communication with the fresh dialysis fluid compartments of the first and second balance chambers; a dialysis fluid cassette-based spent dialysis fluid membrane pump in fluid communication with the dialyzer and the spent dialysis fluid compartments of the first and second balance chambers; and arterial and venous lines in fluid communication with the dialyzer for patient connection, the arterial and venous lines each including a contact used for electrically detecting a patient access disconnection.

A renal failure therapy system includes a dialyzer; a blood circuit in fluid communication with the dialyzer; a dialysis fluid circuit in fluid communication with the dialyzer; a housing supporting the dialyzer, the blood circuit and the dialysis fluid circuit; and at least one electrical socket held by the housing, the electrical socket providing a voltage output dedicated to a particular voltage type of external electrical device for powering or charging the external electrical device, the at least one electrical socket including electrical insulation for protecting a patient while powering the external electrical device.

A device for establishing venous inflow to a blood reservoir of an extracorporeal blood circulation system includes a restricting unit for restricting a venous inflow line and a vacuum unit for supplying vacuum to the blood reservoir. The device includes a control unit that, upon setting the desired venous flow rate, automatically supplies a first actuating signal to the restricting unit for restricting venous inflow to the blood reservoir and supplies a second actuating signal to the vacuum unit for establishing a degree of vacuum within the blood reservoir, so as to achieve the set venous flow rate. The device includes a venous flow sensor.

This document describes medical systems that have features for initiating operational settings during a start-up process. For example, this document describes heart-lung machine systems that are programmed and integrated with features that perform semi-autonomous start-up procedures.

An extracorporeal circulation blood or treatment device (100) comprising an arterial pressure sensor (112) and a blood pump (111) is set up to determine amplitude variation and frequency of the pressure signals received from said arterial pressure sensor (112), calculate a parameter value based on said amplitude variation and said frequency, and issue an alarm if the parameter value exceeds a pre-set threshold value. Such detection aims at monitoring the occurrence of oscillating pressure signals. Such signals indicate an increased risk for hemolysis.

An extracorporeal blood filtering machine can include a blood circuit, an effluent circuit, and a source fluid circuit and can be controlled by a controller. The extracorporeal blood filtering machine can also include access ports for connecting the source fluid circuit to the blood circuit, as well as blood sensors to detect possible issues with the extracorporeal blood filtering machine. The extracorporeal blood filtering machine can include density sensors and flow sensors that enable it to be more accurate and to operate while being transported. The extracorporeal blood filtering machine can further include a user interface and can display fluid inflow/outflow information. A medical fluid container can automatically empty after being filled. An apparatus for supporting a medical fluid container can include a hanger and an attachment member with the apparatus able to adjust to ensure the medical fluid container remains properly oriented directly under a medical fluid container scale.