METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR LEAK DETECTION IN BLOOD CIRCUITS COMBINING EXTERNAL FLUID DETECTION AND AIR INFILTRATION DETECTION

摘要

One of the most significant safety concerns in the automation of extracorporeal blood treatments such as dialysis thru a blood treatment machine (146) using a filter (180), funnel (190) and pump (175) is the risk of blood leakage. Extracorporeal blood treatment systems draw blood at such a high flow rate that a loss of integrity in the blood circuit (184) can be catastrophic for the patient (110) and the health care facility. Via use of electrical continuity detectors, pH sensors or temperature sensors for fluid detectors (185) and air sensors (160, 170), there are a number of mechanisms for detecting and preventing leaks in machine (146). According to the present invention, the probability of a leak, its seriousness, the amount of time the leak condition has persisted without a response, may be used to control escalation of multiple types of alarms such as staged audio signals that have a certain loudness and to nal quality when a leak is first detected and then becomes more conspicuous as time goes by without a reset response action from a system user.