A system and method for balancing flows of renal replacement fluid is disclosed. The method uses pressure controls and pressure sensing devices to more precisely meter and balance the flow of fresh dialysate and spent dialysate. The balancing system may use one or two balancing devices, such as a balance tube, a tortuous path, or a balance chamber.

A dialysis system is provided that includes a dialysis machine and a potassium sensing device that is configured to measure the concentration of potassium in the patient's blood, in spent dialysate resulting from treating the patient, or in both. The potassium sensing device can be configured to generate a sensed value of the concentration of potassium. A control and computing unit, including a processor and a memory, is configured to receive the sensed value, compare the value with one or more values stored in the memory, and generate a control signal based on the comparison. A potassium infusion circuit uses the control signal to infuse supplemental potassium solution into the treatment dialysate, a replacement fluid, or both. The memory can include stored patient-historical and population data.

A dialysis machine has a balancing system with a balancing chamber for a volumetrically exact supply and removal of dialysis solution to and from a dialyzer fluidically connected to the balancing system in operation; a water inlet system connected to the balancing system for the supply of fresh dialysis liquid, with the water inlet system having an apparatus for degassing water that is connected to an air separator of the dialysis machine, with a first subsection of the air separator serving as a mixing chamber and being connectable to at least one concentrate source via at least one concentrate line and being in fluid communication with the balancing system via at least one dialysate line, wherein the filling volume of a balancing chamber corresponds to or exceeds the sum of the volume of the mixing chamber and the inner volume of the dialysate line.

The present disclosure relates to a method and system for regulating and/or monitoring a heating device for heating a fluid, which has flowed in an in-flow section of a dialysis fluid circuit. The dialysis fluid circuit is part of a blood treatment apparatus, which comprises a container for receiving the fluid and a heating container for heating the fluid. The method encompasses the step of starting a heating process for heating the fluid in the heating container. The fluid is in fluid communication with the container when the filling level of the container reaches a pre-determined filling level value by means of direct or indirect flow from the inlet.

A centrally controlled multi-patient dialysis treatment system (1) as disclosed herein comprises: a dialysate preparation unit (2) configured to prepare a dialysate based on a prescription and control dialysate delivery for dialysis treatments in progress; one or more dialysate modules (3) configured to deliver the dialysate to a dialyzer (4) and control an ultrafiltration process; and one or more patient modules (5) configured to control an extracorporeal blood flow through the dialyzer (4) for the dialysis treatment, wherein the dialysate preparation unit (2), the dialysate modules (3) and the patient modules (5) are configured to be adapted to be assembled into an integrated dialysis treatment system suitable for one or more patients (6). Also an use of the centrally controlled multi-patient dialysis treatment system (1) for one or more patients' dialysis treatments is disclosed herein. For the centrally controlled multi-patient dialysis treatment system, in contrast to the conventional in-center dialysis infrastructures, in addition to cost saving, it is highly space efficient. Moreover, the centrally controlled multi-patient dialysis treatment system is robust and easy to setup.

The present invention relates to a dialysis machine comprising a balancing system that has at least one balancing chamber for a volumetrically exact supply and removal of dialysis solution to and from a dialyzer fluidically connected to the balancing system in operation; a water inlet system connected to the balancing system for the supply of fresh dialysis liquid, with the water inlet system having an apparatus for degassing water that is connected to an air separator of the dialysis machine, with a first subsection of the air separator serving as a mixing chamber and being connectable to at least one concentrate source via at least one concentrate line and being in fluid communication with the balancing system via at least one dialysate line, wherein the filling volume of a balancing chamber corresponds to or exceeds the sum of the volume of the mixing chamber and the inner volume of the dialysate line.

The disclosed subject matter relates to extracorporeal blood processing or other processing of fluids. Volumetric fluid balance, a required element of many such processes, may be achieved with multiple pumps or other proportioning or balancing devices which are to some extent independent of each other. This need may arise in treatments that involve multiple fluids. Safe and secure mechanisms to ensure fluid balance in such systems are described.

A dialysis machine which monitors the pressure of blood entering and leaving a patient's body using several sensors (37, 39) and adapts the pressure of a dialysate solution feed to compensate for compliances in the dialysate fluid flow path. As a consequence, better flow balance is maintained throughout dialysis treatment leading to a more uniform removal of waste materials from the blood.

A method for testing the rigidity of a particular disposable for volumetric balancing, for a blood treatment device. The method includes filling the disposable or portion thereof with a liquid, enclosing the filled liquid, so that a certain volume of liquid is present in the disposable unit or the portion thereof, supplying and/or discharging a certain volume of liquid, and measuring the change in pressure caused by the supply and/or discharge of the volume of liquid. A blood treatment device is also provided.

The invention relates to an apparatus for extracorporeal blood treatment that comprises a device 1 for providing fresh dialysate and a drain 2 for used dialysate, a balancing device 4 for balancing fresh dialysate and used dialysate, an ultrafiltration device 15, and a dialyser 3 that is divided into a blood chamber 6 and a dialysate chamber 7 by a semi-permeable membrane 5. The invention further relates to a method for operating such an apparatus for extracorporeal blood treatment. The apparatus according to the invention is based on the use of the ultrafiltration device 15 of the blood treatment apparatus for raising the liquid level in the air separation device 12 on the secondary side of the dialysate system I. In the apparatus according to the invention, the ultrafiltration device 15 is designed such that the ultrafiltration device can be operated not only in an ultrafiltration mode, but also in a ventilation mode. In the ultrafiltration mode, the ultrafiltration device 15 is operated in such a way that used dialysate is removed from the container 12A of the first air separation device 12 whereas in a ventilation mode the ultrafiltration device 15 is operated in the opposite direction so that used dialysate is supplied into the container 12A of the first air separation device 12, as a result of which the liquid level 12D rises in the container of the first air separation device.