Regulating blood flow in extracorporeal circulation

A system for regulating blood flow in extracorporeal circulation, comprising:

• an oxygenator configured to receive and condition blood from a patient;
• a centrifugal pump fluidly coupled to the oxygenator and configured to pump the blood from the oxygenator along a blood flow path back to the patient;
• an electronic remote clamp coupled at a location along the blood flow path and configured to regulate flow of the blood back to the patient;
• and
• a controller configured to operate in a flow control mode and a speed control mode, wherein the controller is configured to automatically close the electronic remote clamp and reduce the speed of the centrifugal pump and switch between the flow control mode and the speed control mode in response to one or more trigger conditions, and to automatically begin opening the electronic remote clamp in response to the speed of the centrifugal pump being increased to a speed threshold.

A method of regulating blood flow in an extracorporeal circulation system, comprising:

• receiving blood, from a patient, in a blood reservoir;
• pumping the blood from the blood reservoir along a blood flow path to an oxygenator and back to the patient using a centrifugal pump;
• regulating flow of the blood back to the patient using an electronic remote clamp coupled at a location along the blood flow path;
• and
• controlling, using a controller, the centrifugal pump and the electronic remote clamp to operate in a flow control mode and a speed control mode,
• wherein controlling the centrifugal pump and the electronic remote clamp includes:
• automatically switching between the flow control mode and the speed control mode in response to one or more trigger conditions;
• and
• automatically switching between the speed control mode and the flow control mode in response to opening the electronic remote clamp.