A method for priming a hemodialysis treatment includes: providing a disposable cassette including at least a portion of a dialysate circuit and at least a portion of a blood circuit; placing a dialyzer in fluid communication with the dialysate circuit via a to-dialyzer dialysate line and a from-dialyzer dialysate line; placing the dialyzer in fluid communication with the blood circuit via an arterial blood line and a venous blood line; placing a source of dialysis fluid in fluid communication with the dialyzer; priming the dialysate circuit with dialysis fluid from the source while both the to-dialyzer dialysate line and the from-dialyzer dialysate line are connected at their dialyzer ends to the dialyzer; and priming the blood circuit with dialysis fluid from the source by actuating at least one valve provided by the disposable cassette.

A renal failure therapy machine includes a blood cleaning filter, a dialysis fluid circuit including a balance chamber, the balance chamber including a fresh dialysis fluid compartment configured to send fresh dialysis fluid to the blood cleaning filter and a used dialysis fluid compartment configured to receive used dialysis fluid from the blood cleaning filter, a fresh dialysis fluid line in fluid communication with the fresh dialysis fluid compartment of the balance chamber and the blood cleaning filter, and a flow restrictor in fluid communication with the blood cleaning filter, the flow restrictor configured to cause fresh dialysis fluid delivered from the fresh dialysis fluid compartment, through the fresh dialysis fluid line, to the blood cleaning filter to be pressurized so that a first amount of the fresh dialysis fluid performs convective clearance and a second amount of the fresh dialysis fluid performs diffusive clearance.

The present invention relates to a method for detecting at least one characteristic relating to a patient's glucose metabolism, having steps to be performed during an extracorporeal treatment of the patient's blood, particularly during a dialysis treatment, of the extracorporeal addition of glucose and/or insulin and extracorporeal measurement of a glucose concentration and/or an insulin concentration. The invention further proposes a corresponding device. In addition, the invention proposes a method for determining the composition of the dialysate for the extracorporeal treatment of a patient's blood having the steps of determining a glucose level in the patient's blood during the dialysis session and adapting the amount of glucose added to the dialysate or blood based on the glucose level determined. To this end, the invention proposes a corresponding device. The invention further proposes a blood treatment device.

A dialysis system includes an on-line dialysate generator, a first dialysate pump in fluid communication with the on-line dialysate generator, and a second dialysate pump in fluid communication with the on-line dialysate generator. The dialysis system also includes a dialyzer in fluid communication with the first and second dialysate pumps. The dialysis system further includes a first valve located between the first dialysate pump and the dialyzer and a second valve located between the second dialysate pump and the dialyzer. The dialysis system is configured to alternate pumping of dialysate from the first and second dialysate pumps to the dialyzer using the first and second valves.

This invention relates generally to magnetic sensors and related systems and methods. In some aspects of the invention, a magnetic sensor assembly includes a housing configured to releasably hold a medical fluid tube and a sensor secured to the housing, the sensor configured to detect a change in a strength of a magnetic field when a medical fluid passes through the medical fluid tube.

Systems and methods for performing a therapeutic red blood cell exchange procedure are disclosed. In one aspect, a system includes a first flow path for flowing whole blood from a patient. A separator communicates with the first flow path for separating at least red blood cells from plasma. Second and third flow paths communicate with the separator for respectively flowing the separated plasma and red blood cells from the separator. A flow controller is associated with the flow paths to control fluid communication between the flow paths. The controller is configured to perform the procedure to achieve a target fraction of patient cells remaining, target hematocrit, and a target patient fluid volume change at the completion of the procedure based on data input by the operator.

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.

A blood purification apparatus which can perform actions and operations according to the final stage of blood-return. Accordingly, a blood purification apparatus comprising a blood circuit including an arterial blood circuit and a venous blood circuit for extracorporeally circulating blood of a patient from a tip end of the arterial blood circuit to a tip end of the venous blood circuit; a blood purification means arranged between the arterial blood circuit and the venous blood circuit of the blood circuit and purifying blood flowing through the blood circuit; a substitution solution supplying means for supplying substitution solution to the blood circuit; and performing blood-return by substituting the blood in the blood circuit with the substitution solution supplied from the substitution solution supplying means after the blood purification treatment wherein the blood purification apparatus comprises a detecting means arranged at predetermined positions in the arterial blood circuit and the venous blood circuit and detecting presence or absence or blood concentration of the blood flowing in the arterial blood circuit and the venous blood circuit at said predetermined positrons, and a recognition means for recognizing a final stage of blood-return which is a condition near the end of the substitution of blood with the substitution solution based on the presence or absence of the blood or blood concentration detected by the detecting means.

A renal therapy system includes: a filter; an arterial blood flowpath in fluid communication with the filter; a venous blood flowpath in fluid communication with the filter; a renal therapy fluid flowpath in fluid communication with the filter; first and second renal therapy fluid pumps; a plurality of valve actuators; and a dialysis fluid cassette including a plurality of valve portions configured to operate with the plurality of valve actuators so that (i) the first renal therapy fluid pump pumps renal therapy fluid through the renal therapy fluid flowpath for a number of first pump actuations, and (ii) the second renal therapy fluid pump pumps renal therapy fluid through the renal therapy fluid flowpath for a number of second pump actuations.

An apparatus for extracorporeal blood treatment comprises a control unit (100) connected to a blood pump (10) configured to deliver a blood flow rate in a blood circuit of the apparatus (1), to a diuretic pump (27) configured to deliver a flow rate (Q.sub.d) of a 5diuretic (e.g. furosemide) and to an osmotic agent pump (30) configured to deliver a flow rate (Q.sub.oa) of an osmotic agent (e.g. albumin) to be infused in the blood circuit or in the vascular system of the patient (P). The control unit (100) is configured for receiving at least one input patient parameter (e.g. blood 10pressure) and/or at least one input apparatus parameter (e.g. access pressure) and, during an extracorporeal blood treatment, to drive the diuretic pump (27) and/or the osmotic agent pump (30) as a function of said at least one input patient parameter and/or as a function of at least one input apparatus parameter, in order to15achieve an improved and better fluid removal from the patient (P).