Systems, catheters, and methods for treating along the central nervous system

A method of controlling cerebrospinal fluid flow through a cerebrospinal fluid filtering module, the method comprising:

• pumping cerebrospinal fluid through a filter module with a pump at a pumping rate via a fluid line, the fluid line having an inlet configured to receive cerebrospinal fluid from a patient, an outlet configured to provide filtered cerebrospinal fluid to the patient from the filter module, and a lumen configured to facilitate travel of cerebrospinal fluid from the inlet of the fluid line to the filter module and from the filter module to the outlet of the fluid line;
• sensing a measure related to a pressure in the lumen of the fluid line at a location upstream of the filter module;
• controlling operation of the pump in an automated manner based on one or both of a value based on the measure related to a pressure in the lumen of the fluid line sensed at a location upstream of the filter module and a delta value, the delta value is a difference between the value based on the measure related to a pressure in the lumen of the fluid line at a location upstream of the filter module at a time T and the value based on the measure related to a pressure in the lumen of the fluid line sensed at a location upstream of the filter module at a previous time of the time T minus a time interval N;
• wherein controlling operation of the pump in an automated matter comprises controlling operation of the pump according to one of a first control protocol and a second control protocol;
• when controlling operation of the pump according to the second control protocol:
• determining whether a timer is currently timing an amount of time the pump has been controlled according to the second control protocol;
• and
• when the timer has been determined to not be running, starting the timer and recalculating the delta value.

A computer readable medium having stored thereon in a non-transitory state a program code for use by a computing device, the program code causing the computing device to execute a method for controlling fluid flow through a cerebrospinal fluid filtering module comprising:

• outputting a control signal to a pump to pump cerebrospinal fluid through a filter module via a fluid line;
• determining a value based on a measure related to a pressure in a lumen of the fluid line at a location upstream of the filter module;
• and
• configuring the control signal to adjust a pumping rate of the pump, wherein the configuring the control signal is based on one or both of the value based on the measure related to a pressure in the lumen of the fluid line at the location upstream of the filter module and a delta value, the delta value is a difference between the value based on the measure related to a pressure in the lumen of the fluid line sensed at a location upstream of the filter module at a time T and the value based on the measure related to a pressure in the lumen of the fluid line sensed at a location upstream of the filter module at a previous time of the time T minus a time interval N;
• wherein configuring the control signal comprises configuring the control signal according to one of a first control protocol and a second control protocol;
• wherein when the control signal is configured to control operation of the pump according to the second control protocol, the method further comprises:
• determining whether a timer is currently timing an amount of time the pump has been controlled according to the second control protocol;
• and
• when the timer has been determined to not be running, starting the timer and recalculating the delta value.