Plasma treatment apparatus

Plasma treatment apparatus in which whole blood is filtered through a microporous membrane having a pore size between 0.1 micron and 2 microns thereby providing a plasma filtrate, the improvement comprising, in combination:

• a filter cell assembly including said microporous membrane;
• said filter cell assembly having a membrane support membrane and a treatment membrane supported by said membrane support member;
• a plasma treatment agent sandwiched between said membrane support member and said treatment membrane;
• a treatment agent inlet port and a treatment agent outlet port communicating with the volume defined by the treatment membrane and the membrane support member for circulating said plasma treatment agent between said membrane support member and said treatment membrane;
• means positioned between said treatment membrane and said microporous membrane for spacing said microporous membrane from said treatment membrane to form a plasma chamber therebetween;
• said treatment membrane being operable to permit transfer between said treatment agent and the plasma in said plasma chamber;
• a blood inlet port and a blood outlet port communicating with one side of said microporous membrane for circulating blood to said one side of said microporous membrane;
• and
• means for withdrawing treated plasma from said plasma chamber.

Plasma treatment apparatus comprising:

• a filter cell assembly having a blood inlet, a blood outlet and a plasma outlet;
• a pair of microporous membranes forming a blood flow path therebetween;
• said microporous membranes having a pore size between 0.1 micron and 2 microns;
• a first membrane support member positioned on one side of said pair of microporous membranes and a second membrane support member positioned on the opposite side of said microporous membranes;
• a treatment membrane positioned intermediate each of said membrane support members and one of the microporous membranes;
• means for spacing each of said treatment membranes from the respective microporous membrane to form a plasma chamber between each of said treatment membranes and the respective microporous membrane;
• a plasma treatment agent sandwiched between each membrane support member and treatment membrane;
• means coupling said blood inlet and blood outlet to said blood flow path between said microporous membranes;
• and
• means coupling said plasma outlet to said plasma chambers.

Plasma treatment apparatus comprising:

• a filter cell assembly having a blood inlet, a blood outlet and a plasma outlet;
• a pair of microporous membranes forming a blood flow path therebetween;
• said microporous membranes having a pore size between 0.1 micron and 2 microns;
• a first membrane support member positioned on one side of said pair of microporous membranes and a second membrane support member positioned on the opposite side of said microporous membranes;
• a treatment membrane positioned intermediate each of said membrane support members and one of the microporous membranes;
• means for spacing each of said treatment membranes from the respective microporous membrane to form a plasma chamber between each of said treatment membranes and the respective microporous membrane, said spacing means comprising a mesh screen;
• a plasma treatment agent sandwiched between each membrane support member and treatment membrane;
• a plasma treatment agent inlet and a plasma treatment agent outlet;
• means coupling said plasma treatment agent inlet and outlet to locations between each membrane support member and treatment membrane to form a circulation path for said plasma treatment agent;
• said treatment membrane having a pore size that is less than 0.1 micron;
• means coupling said blood inlet and blood outlet to said blood flow path between said microporous membranes;
• and
• means coupling said plasma outlet to said plasma chambers.