Embodiments of the disclosure provide a method for determining beginning blood volume of a patient during dialysis (e.g., hemodialysis). Ultrafiltration rates are determined at different time stamps during dialysis by obtaining a blood flowrate measurement and hematocrit measurements at input port and output port of a dialyzer connected to the patient. The flowrate and hematocrit measurements are used to determine fluid removed from the patient during dialysis. The ultrafiltration rates and fluid removed from the patient are used to determine the beginning blood volume of the patient.

Devices and methods establish and facilitate retrograde or reverse flow blood circulation in the region of the carotid artery bifurcation in order to limit or prevent the release of emboli into the cerebral vasculature such as into the internal carotid artery. The methods are particularly useful for interventional procedures performed through a transcarotid approach or transfemoral into the common carotid artery.

A control device for a blood treatment machine performs a connection test (50) by causing the blood treatment machine to switch (51, 53) between a first and a second operating state by reversing a blood pump so as to change a flow direction of blood through both a dialyzer and access devices connected to a patient. Based on an output signal of at least one sensor in the blood treatment machine (52, 54), the control device computes (55) an efficiency change parameter that represents a change in in-vivo clearance of the blood treatment machine during the switch of the blood treatment machine between the first and second operating states. The control device evaluates (56) the efficiency change parameter to jointly detect connection errors at the dialyzer, resulting in co-current flow of treatment fluid and blood through the dialyzer, and at the access devices, resulting in access recirculation of blood.

A blood purification apparatus that detects dislodgement of a puncture needle is provided. The apparatus includes an arterial electrode, a venous electrode, a power source capable of causing a current to flow through an arterial puncture needle and a venous puncture needle that are stuck in a patient, a body-surface electrode closely attached to a body surface of the patient, a detection device capable of acquiring a heart rate of the patient in accordance with an electrical signal detected by the body-surface electrode, a monitoring device capable of monitoring in real time the current flowing through the arterial electrode or the venous electrode and a change in an impedance in a body of the patient that is detected by the detection device, and an identifying device capable of identifying a dislodged state where the arterial puncture needle or the venous puncture needle is dislodged from the patient, in accordance with the change in the impedance that is an object of monitoring by the monitoring device.

A blood purification apparatus is provided that is capable of detecting an abnormal state of puncture into a blood vessel with an arterial puncture needle or a venous puncture needle. The blood purification apparatus includes an oscillating device capable of supplying an alternating current at a predetermined frequency and changing the frequency of the alternating current among a plurality of frequencies, a measuring device capable of measuring an impedance for each of the frequencies, a calculating device capable of acquiring an impedance frequency characteristic, a storage device capable of storing an impedance frequency characteristic acquired in a case of normal puncture into the patient's blood vessel with an arterial puncture needle and a venous puncture needle, and an identifying device capable of identifying whether the puncture into the blood vessel with the arterial puncture needle a or the venous puncture needle b is normal in accordance with the change observed between the impedance frequency characteristic acquired by the calculating device and the impedance frequency characteristic stored in the storage device.

A method and device for monitoring a measurement object. A passive unit has a light source, which radiates radiated light modulated by at least one external measurement influence from the measurement object. An active unit has an optical detector, which receives the radiated and modulated light via an optical link. In addition, there is a transmitter unit emitting energy, such as optical energy, sound energy, electromagnetic energy etc. The emitted energy is coded by an energy signature and sent to the passive unit via an energy link. The passive unit receives the emitted energy by a receiver unit, which decodes the energy signature and moderates the radiated and modulated light in dependence of the energy signature. The received energy is also used to drive the light source. A processor unit may decode the signal for discriminating the signal from error sources.

An object is to provide a blood purifying device and an access flow rate measuring method enabling easy and accurate measurement of an access flow rate of an access vessel. A blood purifying device includes a flow rate calculating unit calculating the access flow rate of an access vessel based on an initial blood indicator for blood distributed through a vein side circuit and flowing through the access vessel of a patient, the flow rate distributed through measuring means when a pump is reversed to cause the priming solution to flow out from an artery side circuit, and a blood indicator for the blood diluted with the priming solution which is obtained when the pump is reversed to dilute, with the priming solution, the blood distributed through the vein side circuit.

Embodiments of the disclosure provide a method for determining beginning blood volume of a patient during dialysis (e.g., hemodialysis). Ultrafiltration rates are determined at different time stamps during dialysis by obtaining a blood flowrate measurement and hematocrit measurements at input port and output port of a dialyzer connected to the patient. The flowrate and hematocrit measurements are used to determine fluid removed from the patient during dialysis. The ultrafiltration rates and fluid removed from the patient are used to determine the beginning blood volume of the patient.

A method of monitoring the integrity of a fluid connection between first and second fluid containing systems based on at least one time-dependent measurement signal from a pressure sensor in the first fluid containing system. The pressure sensor detects first pulses originating from a first pulse generator in the first fluid containing system and second pulses originating from a second pulse generator in the second fluid containing system. A parameter value representing a distribution of signal values within a time window is calculated by analyzing the measurement signal in the time domain and/or by using information on the timing of the second pulses in the measurement signal. The parameter value may be calculated as a statistical dispersion measure of the signal values, or from matching the signal to a predicted temporal signal profile of the second pulse. The integrity of the fluid connection is determined from the parameter value.

An apparatus for the non-invasive measurement of the blood flow through a shunt of a patient has at least one bandage which can be worn by the patient, as well as a plurality of sensors which are arranged in or at the bandage, which are arranged in at least one multidimensional matrix, and which are configured such that they create a multidimensional matrix of measured values of at least one parameter detected by the sensors.