Claims
- 1. A method for extracorporeally processing blood, said method comprising:
drawing blood from a patient; pumping the blood with a pump at a predetermined blood flow rate; measuring an actual blood flow rate delivered by the pump; comparing the actual blood flow rate with the predetermined blood flow rate; and adjusting the blood flow rate delivered by the pump.
- 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of signaling an alarm condition if a difference of a predetermined minimum value exists.
- 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the actual blood flow rate is directly measured.
- 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of pumping the drawn blood with a pump at a predetermined blood flow rate includes pumping the drawn blood with a pump at a predetermined stroke volume and blood flow rate.
- 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the drawn blood is pumped at a blood flow rate that corresponds to a theoretical pumped blood flow rate.
- 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the pump is a peristaltic pump.
- 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of slowing or stopping pump operation when said difference has said predetermined minimum value.
- 8. The method of claim 1 wherein the measuring step comprises ultrasonically measuring the flow rate using a sensor disposed externally to the blood flow.
Parent Case Info
[0001] This is a division of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/174,721, filed on Oct. 19, 1998, which is a continuation-in-part of Provisional Application No. 60/074,387, filed on Feb. 11, 1998, the full disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60074387 |
Feb 1998 |
US |
Divisions (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09174721 |
Oct 1998 |
US |
Child |
09862207 |
May 2001 |
US |