Systems, devices, and methods are provided for sensing gas bubbles within a liquid flow line, such as within a medical device. The systems, devices, and methods can measure a change in capacitance across a pair of conductive plates to calculate a volume of gas in a flow line. If a calculated volume of gas exceeds an established threshold, an alert can be sent and/or changes made to operation of the device.

A system for regulating blood flow in extracorporeal circulation, and including a blood reservoir to receive blood from a patient, an oxygenator to condition the blood, a centrifugal pump to pump the blood from the blood reservoir to the oxygenator and back to the patient, an electronic remote clamp to regulate flow of the blood, and a controller to operate in a flow control mode and a speed control mode. The controller includes an operational element to set a blood flow value in the flow control mode and to set a speed of the centrifugal pump in the speed control mode. The controller to automatically switch between the flow control mode and the speed control mode in response to one or more trigger conditions and to automatically switch between the speed control mode and the flow control mode in response to opening the electronic remote clamp.

The invention relates to a blood treatment device for carrying out an extracorporeal blood treatment in which blood is guided in a blood guidance device having a main blood line and at least one secondary line, the latter being fluidically connected to the main blood line and the main blood line having a dialyzer and, downstream from the dialyzer, a blood treatment element, wherein the blood treatment device has a control device; and a pump configuration, which is equipped for generating blood flows in the main blood line and also in the at least one secondary line, wherein the control device is designed to operate the pump configuration in such a way that a first blood flow rate in the dialyzer is decoupled from a second blood flow rate in the blood treatment element. Furthermore, the invention relates to a blood guidance device for cooperation with the blood treatment device as well as for a blood treatment system.

A fluid processing system may include a flow control cassette comprising at least one interface sensor chamber in fluid communication with at least one of a plurality of separate channels, the at least one interface sensor chamber defined at least in part by a wall, and at least one capacitive sensor disposed on the wall of the at least one interface sensor chamber. The fluid processing system may include, in the alternative or in addition, at least one syringe comprising a wall defining a barrel having a first end and a second end, the barrel having a bore with or without a piston or plunger disposed therein, and at least one capacitive sensor disposed on an outer surface of the wall of the syringe.

The present invention refers to a system and method for opening a concentrate container without the need for a human to directly handle the concentrate container and connecting the concentrate container to a blood treatment device. Aspects of the invention are directed to a container for concentrate and a blood treatment device.

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 blood purification apparatus that is capable of, with no preparatory operations, performing substitution by supplying dialysate in a dialysate introduction line to a blood circuit during ultrafiltration treatment, or performing blood return by immediately supplying the dialysate in the dialysate introduction line to the blood circuit after the ultrafiltration treatment. A blood purification apparatus includes a dialyzer, a dialysate introduction line, a dialysate drain line L2 through which drain liquid from the dialyzer is drained, and an ultrafiltration pump capable of removing water from the blood in the blood circuit. The blood purification apparatus is capable of performing substitution or blood return by supplying the dialysate in the dialysate introduction line L1 to the blood circuit. In an ultrafiltration treatment in which the ultrafiltration pump is activated while the introduction of the dialysate into the dialyzer is stopped, dialysate delivery is performed while the introduction of the dialysate into the dialyzer is prevented.

A method is presented for checking the integrity of a hollow-fibre fluid filter, in particular a hollow-fibre dialyzer (1), which is constructed from a plurality of hollow fibres (15) enclosed by a membrane, with the steps of: perfusing the inside or outside of the hollow fibres (15) with a fluid, supplying the outside or inside of the hollow fibres (15) with a gas, wherein the gas has a higher pressure than the fluid, and determining a quantity of the gas which penetrates into the fluid through holes in the membrane. The method is characterized in that, after flowing through the hollow-fibre fluid filter (1), the fluid is channelled through a bubble trap (30), and in that a volume of gas (41) collecting in the bubble trap (30) during a predefined or predefinable reference period is determined. Furthermore, equipment for checking the integrity of a hollow-fibre fluid filter (1) is presented.

Dialysis systems comprising actuators that cooperate to perform dialysis functions and sensors that cooperate to monitor dialysis functions are disclosed. According to one aspect, such a hemodialysis system comprises a user interface model layer, a therapy layer, below the user interface model layer, and a machine layer below the therapy layer. The user interface model layer is configured to manage the state of a graphical user interface and receive inputs from a graphical user interface. The therapy layer is configured to run state machines that generate therapy commands based at least in part on the inputs from the graphical user interface. The machine layer is configured to provide commands for the actuators based on the therapy commands.

An extracorporeal blood treatment apparatus comprises: a blood treatment device (2); an extracorporeal blood circuit comprising a blood withdrawal line (6) and a blood return line (7) coupled to the extracorporeal blood treatment device (2), wherein the blood return line (7) presents a heating zone (14) coupled or configured to be coupled to a blood warmer (15); a blood pump (6) configured to be coupled to a pump section of the blood withdrawal line (6); at least a post-infusion line (13, 13′) connected to the blood return line (7) upstream of the heating zone (14); an air trapping device (9) placed on the blood return line (7) upstream of the heating zone (14).