Control system for driving fluids through an extracorporeal blood circuit

Abstract

A control deck and system for controlling and driving blood fluids through an extracorporeal blood circuit kit. In one aspect, the invention is a deck having an improved mechanism for securing a cassette in place during treatment operations. The improved deck comprises catches for slidably receiving tabs of the cassette and one or more rotating clamps for locking and securing the cassette in a loaded position. In another aspect the invention is a system for controlling and driving blood fluids having infrared communication abilities to transmit and receive real time data. In still another aspect, the invention is a system for controlling and driving blood fluids having an upright tower design that reduces the footprint of the system. In this embodiment, a centrifuge chamber is positioned in an upper portion of the system while the control deck and photoactivation chamber are located in a base portion of the system.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] This invention relates generally to the field of systems for driving fluids through an extracorporeal blood circuit, and specifically to non-disposable systems for driving and controlling fluid flow through disposable extracorporeal blood circuit kits. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] Several treatments for disease require the removal of blood from a patient, processing the one or more components of the blood, and return of the processed components for a therapeutic effect. Those extracorporeal treatments require systems for safely removing blood from the patient, separating it into components, and returning the blood or blood components to the patient. With the advance of medical sciences, it has become possible to treat a patient's blood in closed-loop processes, returning the patient's own treated blood back to him in one medical treatment. An example of such processes include external treatment methods for diseases in which there is a pa...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011] These objects and others are met by the present invention. The present invention is directed at permanent blood driving systems for photopheresis and apheres...

Problems solved by technology

Additionally, apheresis systems and methods have also been proposed and used which involve separation of blood into various components, and also involve systems pumping and valving systems which are difficult to manufacture or operate.

Prior photopheresis and apheresis systems and methods usually require batch processes and therefore take several hours to treat a patient or to obtain a sufficient supply of separated blood components.

Furthermore, the systems are very complex to manufacture, especially the fluid flow controllers and valving systems.

Known disposable photopheresis kits are difficult and expensive to manufacture, especially the valving and pumping mechanisms...

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