Apparatus for extracorporeal treatment of blood

An extracorporeal blood treatment apparatus comprising:

• A blood treatment device comprising a blood chamber and a fluid chamber separated by a semipermeable membrane;
• An extracorporeal blood circuit comprising a blood withdrawal line connected to an inlet port of the blood chamber and a blood return line connected to an outlet port of the blood chamber;
• A blood pump operable with the blood withdrawal line;
• A closed fluid line connected to an inlet port of the fluid chamber and to an outlet port of the fluid chamber, wherein the closed fluid line together with the fluid chamber form a recirculation loop;
• An evacuation line departing from the closed fluid line;
• A warming device coupled to the closed fluid line;
• A recirculation pump operable with the closed fluid line;
• At least one temperature sensor operable with the extracorporeal blood circuit to sense a blood temperature and placed adjacent to the outlet port of the blood chamber to sense a filter outlet blood temperature;
• and
• A control unit operably connected to the warming device, the recirculation pump, and the at least one temperature sensor, the control unit configured to:
• (i) Receive, from the at least one temperature sensor, a signal correlated to the filter outlet blood temperature measured at the outlet port of the blood chamber defining a measured filter outlet blood temperature,
• (ii) Adjust said filter outlet blood temperature measured at the outlet port of the blood chamber by controlling the warming device to regulate a fluid temperature in the recirculation loop and controlling the recirculation pump to regulate a flow rate of the recirculation pump to bring the measured filter outlet blood temperature to a preset blood temperature and maintain the measured filter outlet blood temperature at the preset blood temperature,
• (iii) Ultrafilter blood by causing plasma water to be removed from blood in the extracorporeal blood circuit through the blood treatment device, and
• (iv) Cause excess fluid to be discharged through the evacuation line.

An extracorporeal blood treatment apparatus, comprising:

• a blood treatment device comprising a blood chamber and a fluid chamber separated by a semipermeable membrane;
• an extracorporeal blood circuit comprising a blood withdrawal line connected to an inlet port of the blood chamber and a blood return line connected to an outlet port of the blood chamber;
• a blood pump operable with the blood withdrawal line;
• a closed fluid line connected to an inlet port of the fluid chamber and to an outlet port of the fluid chamber, wherein the closed fluid line together with the fluid chamber form a recirculation loop;
• an evacuation line departing from the closed fluid line;
• a warming device coupled to the closed fluid line;
• a recirculation pump operable with the closed fluid line;
• at least one temperature sensor operable with the extracorporeal blood circuit to sense a blood temperature;
• at least one of:
• (i) a pre-infusion line connected to the blood withdrawal line, (ii) a post- infusion line connected to the blood return line, (iii) a pre-pump infusion line connected to the blood withdrawal line upstream of the blood pump, wherein the post-infusion line is connected between the outlet port of the blood chamber and the at least one temperature sensor;
• a control unit operably connected to the warming device, the recirculation pump, and the at least one temperature sensor, the control unit configured to:
• (i) receive, from the at least one temperature sensor, a signal correlated to the blood temperature defining a measured blood temperature, and
• (ii) adjust said blood temperature by controlling the warming device to regulate a fluid temperature in the recirculation loop to bring the measured blood temperature to a preset blood temperature and maintain the measured blood temperature at the preset blood temperature,
• wherein the apparatus further comprises a heat exchanger located along the closed fluid line, and wherein the at least one of (ii) the post-infusion line, (i) the pre-infusion line, and (iii) the pre-pump infusion line passes through said heat exchanger to exchange heat with a fluid in the closed fluid line before reaching the extracorporeal blood circuit.