| abstract |
Devices and methods for providing extracorporeal treatment of blood for effective plasmafiltration or hemofiltration are disclosed. The device incorporates a hollow fiber membrane device (HFD) connected in series with a parallel plate dialyzer (PPD). Sorbent suspension from a sorbent bag (101) first passes through the sorbent inlet (102) of the PPD, exits through sorbent outlet (103), is drawn into accumulator reservoir (104), is expelled from accumulator reservoir (104) and passes through check valve (105) in response to alternating positive pressure and negative pressure applied to the accumulator reservoir (104). The sorbent suspension then passes into HFD inlet (106) and through the outer chamber of the HFD, thus agitating and mixing the sorbent suspension into contact with exterior surfaces of the hollow fibers (107) in the HFD. Sorbent suspension exits the HFD from outlet (108) and passes through blood leak detector (109) and back into the sorbent bag (101). |