Systems and methods are provided for separating platelets from blood. Prior to blood separation, a volume of blood to be processed, a volume of platelets to be collected, and/or a time required to complete blood draw from a source during a blood separation procedure is determined. Based on that determination, a procedure setpoint is calculated from the completion of the blood draw. Blood is subsequently drawn from a source into a separator in which the blood is separated into a mononuclear cell-containing fraction and a platelet-containing fraction. At least a portion of the platelet-containing fraction is conveyed from the separator, while the volume of the mononuclear cell-containing fraction in the separator increases. The mononuclear cell-containing fraction is conveyed to the source from the separator at the procedure setpoint. The blood draw and separation are then ended.

A peristaltic pump-based apparatus for capturing circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from blood is provided that includes a feedback control architecture that uses models of pump operation and measures of internal pressure fluctuations of the pump (e.g., in the form time-varying and/or position-dependent pressure oscillation data) to adjust pump operating characteristics that smooth pump operation, thereby improving viscosity and consistency of fluid flowing through the pump to a connected microfluidic capture device.

A blood separation system is provided that includes a blood separation device that includes a centrifugal separator and a spinning membrane separator drive unit incorporated into a common case and a fluid flow circuit having both a separation chamber configured to be mounted in the centrifugal separator of the blood separation device and a spinning membrane separator configured to be received in the spinning membrane separator drive unit. In an exemplary procedure, the system is used to collect concentrated platelets and/or concentrated platelets and plasma, and to further permit harvesting of the mononuclear cells from the centrifugal separator at the conclusion of platelet collection, and transfer of the mononuclear cells to the spinning membrane separator.

An extracorporeal photopheresis system includes a separator with a disposable fluid circuit including a treatment container, an irradiation device configured to treat the contents of the treatment container, and a controller configured to control the system to perform a procedure including drawing anticoagulated whole blood into the fluid circuit from a blood source and returning to the blood source a treated target cell component, a portion of a red blood cell component remaining in the fluid circuit, and/or a portion of a plasma component remaining in the fluid circuit. The controller is further configured to estimate an end-of-procedure fluid balance estimated based on manual or automatic inputs including a patient body weight associated with the blood source and a total blood volume of the blood source, indicate the fluid balance to an operator, and receive one or more changes that affect the fluid balance after indicating the fluid balance.

The present invention relates to a method for separating lymphocytes and/or stem cells from whole blood in an automated blood separation system, wherein the quality of the collected lymphocytes and/or stem cells fractions is increased and the cell collection procedure is further automated by use of an optical sensor comprised in a detector device to measure turbidity and colour in the claimed method and in a cell separator, which can be used to perform the claimed method. The method of the invention is particularly useful to collect lymphocytes and/or stem cells fractions from whole blood, wherein the contamination of the collected cell fractions by platelets, red blood cells and granulocytes is reduced.

A method of collecting mononuclear cells includes separating whole blood into plasma and cellular components, purifying the plasma through a plasma adsorption column to create purified plasma, combining the cellular components with the purified plasma to form a first mixture, and separating the first mixture into mononuclear cells and at least one component. Alternatively, whole blood may be flowed through an adsorption column to create purified whole blood, with the purified whole blood then being separated into mononuclear cells and at least one component.

A system for blood cell separation, comprising:

a separation chamber (10) comprising an inlet port for blood (12), an outlet port for plasma (14) and at least an outlet port for cellular blood components (16) for the separation of whole blood;

a blood pump (20) for pumping whole blood into the inlet port for blood (12);

a plasma pump (22) for pumping plasma and/or target cells from the outlet port for plasma (14) out of the separation chamber (10);

a red blood cell tube (30) comprising a first end (32) and a second end (34), wherein the first end (32) of the red blood cell tube (30) is connected to the outlet port for cellular blood components (16) for allowing red blood cells to leave the separation chamber (10); and

a drip chamber (40) comprising a reservoir (42) and an inlet (46), wherein the second end (34) of the red blood cell tube (30) is connected to the inlet (46), wherein the second end (34) of the red blood cell tube (30) extends into the volume of the reservoir (42) for pressure equalization during pumping from the outlet port for plasma (14).

Blood in a separation chamber is separated into a red blood cell layer, a plasma constituent, and a mononuclear cell-containing layer. A portion of the plasma constituent exits the chamber via a plasma outlet, while a first portion of the red blood cell layer exits via a red blood cell outlet. A second portion of the red blood cell layer exits the chamber via the red blood cell outlet and is collected. At least a portion of the collected red blood cell layer may then be conveyed to the chamber via the red blood cell outlet to convey at least a portion of the mononuclear cell-containing layer out of the chamber via the plasma outlet for collection. A second portion of the plasma constituent may be conveyed out of the chamber via the plasma outlet to more fully collect the mononuclear cell-containing layer without the use of collected plasma.

Described is a method for controlling fluid volume balance. A controller is configured with a first set of inputs comprising a hematocrit, a total blood volume, and an ACD ratio. A maximum extracorporeal RBC amount during the procedure is estimated based on the first set of inputs. A fluid circuit is primed with a priming fluid. Whole blood is drawn from a blood source and separated into a RBC component, a target cell component, and a plasma component. The target cell component is directed to a product container. The product container comprising the target cell component is treated. A treated target cell component, a portion of the RBC component remaining in the fluid circuit, and/or a portion of the plasma component remaining in the fluid circuit are returned to the blood source. A first response action is provided if the maximum extracorporeal RBC amount estimated is above a programmed limit.

A method of collecting mononuclear cells includes separating plasma from cellular components of whole blood. The cellular components, which include mononuclear cells and red blood cells, are combined with plasma replacement fluid to form a first mixture. The mononuclear cells of the first mixture are separated from the red blood cells of the first mixture, which may be followed by extracorporeal photopheresis being performed on the mononuclear cells.