A system includes a dialyzer having a blood side and a dialysate side, a first extracorporeal circuit including one or more first fluid connectors structurally configured to connect the blood side of the dialyzer to the vascular system of a kidney patient, and a second extracorporeal circuit including one or more second fluid connectors structurally configured to connect the dialysate side of the dialyzer to the vascular system of a healthy animal. The present teachings may thus include a system where hemodialysis is performed using a healthy animal (e.g., a person with normal kidney function) to help remove harmful solutes from, and provide helpful solutes to, a kidney patient. In this manner, the healthy animal is “virtually donating” its kidney function to the kidney patient.

An artificial lung device includes: a housing which is formed in a tubular shape including both end portions closed, includes a blood inflow port and a blood outflow port, and is arranged such that a center axis of the housing is directed in a lateral direction; a hollow fiber body (gas exchanger) which is arranged in the housing and performs gas exchange with respect to blood while the blood flows from the blood inflow port to the blood outflow port; and a straightening frame (gas guide portion) by which a gas having flowed through the gas exchanger by the flow of the blood is guided to the gas exchanger again in the housing.

Various sorbent cartridges for use in sorbent dialysis are constructed to allow even dialysate stream flow through the sorbent cartridges, at relatively high flow rates, with sufficient engagement with sorbent media within the sorbent cartridges and without creating drill-through problems. The sorbent cartridges may have various columns and/or compartments for housing the sorbent media. The sorbent cartridges may have various horizontally oriented restrictors, with particularly sized holes, and with various vertically oriented side walls, that both form the various columns and/or compartments and that direct and control the dialysate stream through the sorbent cartridges in an even manner.

A fluid handling cassette, such as that useable with an automated peritoneal dialysis (APD) cycler device or other infusion apparatus, may include a generally planar body having at least one pump chamber formed as a depression in a first side of the body and a plurality of flowpaths for a fluid that includes a channel. A patient line port may be arranged for connection to a patient line and be in fluid communication with the at least one pump chamber via at least a first one of said flowpaths, and an optional membrane may be attached to the first side of the body over the at least one pump chamber. In one embodiment, the membrane may have a pump chamber portion with an unstressed shape that generally conforms to the depression of the at least one pump chamber in the body and is arranged to be movable for movement of the fluid in a useable space of the at least one pump chamber. One or more spacers may be provided in the at least one pump chamber to prevent the membrane from contacting an inner wall of the at least one pump chamber. The patient line, a drain line, and/or a heater bag line may be positioned to be separately occludable in relation to one or more solution lines that are connectable to the cassette.

Components for a medical infusion fluid handling system, such as an APD system, in which one or more lines (such as solution lines), spikes or other connection ports may be automatically capped and/or de-capped. This feature may provide advantages, such as a reduced likelihood of contamination since no human interaction is required to de-cap and connect the one or more lines, the spikes or the other connection ports. For example, a fluid handling cassette may include one or more caps that cover a corresponding spike and include a raised and/or recessed feature to assist in removal of the one or more caps from the cassette. A solution line cap may include a hole and a recess, a groove or other feature to engage with a spike cap and enable removal of the spike cap.

An implantable renal replacement therapy device may include: a first catheter configured to be inserted into a blood vessel in a subject's body; a pump in fluid communication with the first catheter, the pump is configured to pump subject's blood from the blood vessel; a filter in fluid communication with the pump, the filter is configured to: receive the subject's blood from the pump, and filter the received blood to provide a filtered blood and a filtrate liquid, wherein the filter is in fluid communication with the first catheter to cause an outflow of the filtered blood from the filter to the blood vessel; and a second catheter in fluid communication with the filter and configured to be inserted into an urinary bladder in the subject's body to cause an outflow of the filtrate liquid from the filter to the urinary bladder.

The present invention provides a hemodiafiltrator comprising two compartmentalized dialysate chambers coaxially arranged in tandem. A single packed bundle of hollow fibers for blood flow is enclosed coaxially along a longitudinal axis inside the dual dialysate chambers. A configuration of a tandem arrangement of the dual dialysate chambers at least comprises a first dialysate chamber for an acidic dialysate with a varying level of urea and a second compartmentalized dialysate chamber for a basic dialysate with no urea but with a level of ammonia up to a level detected in normal human blood.

A separation membrane module includes a separation membrane including a hydrophobic polymer, a hydrophilic polymer, and polymer A, wherein the polymer A includes a hydrophilic unit and a hydrophobic unit, and is a copolymer having an alkyl group having 2 to 20 carbon atoms at a side-chain terminal of the hydrophobic unit, the separation membrane module having a retention rate of an albumin sieving coefficient of 86% or more at 60 minutes after circulation start relative to an albumin sieving coefficient at 10 minutes after circulation start when 2 L of bovine blood containing 50 U/ml of heparin, and having a hematocrit of 30% by volume and a total protein concentration of 6 to 7 g/dl is circulated at a flow rate of 100 ml/min at 37° C. and a filtration flow rate of 10 ml/(min.Math.m.sup.2).

An extracorporeal blood treatment machine for carrying out a blood treatment including a machine front on which a hollow fiber filter module is arranged in a horizontal position, which hollow fiber filter module includes a cylindrical housing, a blood chamber having a blood inlet nozzle and a blood outlet nozzle and a solution chamber having a solution inlet nozzle extending transversely to the longitudinal direction of the hollow fiber filter module and a solution outlet nozzle extending transversely to the longitudinal direction of the hollow fiber filter module, the solution chamber being semi-permeably communicated at least in portions with the blood chamber, wherein a height potential is present in the horizontal position between the solution inlet nozzle and the solution outlet nozzle so that drainage of solution is enabled via one of the solution nozzles and evacuation of air bubbles is enabled via an other of the solution nozzles.

To enhance diffusive mass transfer of small molecules and convective clearance of middle molecules, the present invention provides a cylindrical hemodialyzer which comprises a blood compartment having a packed bundle of hollow fibers in a doughnut configuration on a radial cross-section, and a motorized dialysate compartment comprising a dialysate inlet motor having an external stator and an internal rotor connected to an axial spiral flow converter slidably inserted in a center of the packed bundle of the hollow fibers. The cylindrical hemodialyzer is configured to recirculate dialysate across the packed bundle of the hollow fibers propelled by the dialysate inlet motor. A dialysate outlet motor of the motorized dialysate compartment having an external stator and an internal rotor is configured to drain the dialysate and to control ultrafiltration by said cylindrical hemodialyzer.