Extracorporeal blood treatments such as hemodialysis and hemofiltration can be lengthy procedures leading to considerable disruption of a patient's daily schedule. The size and limited portability of most dialysis systems can significantly reduce the mobility of patients and their ability to engage in routine activities or easily interrupt a treatment session in the event of an emergency or non-emergency event. If a treatment session is interrupted, the patient often has to undergo the cumbersome process of disconnecting from extracorporeal blood tubing. When resuming a treatment session, a new set of extracorporeal blood tubing is often required leading to waste, increased cost, stress on the patient's skin and vasculature, and greater opportunity for infection and contamination. Existing blood processing machines often limit use at home to a single station, room, or floor, which can also disrupt a patient's daily schedule and potentially lead to a lack of compliance with a prescribed regimen. Existing machines and systems are also limited in their capacity to handle high and/or unexpected patient numbers at treatment centers, potentially leading to life-threatening delays. For a given period of time, a treatment center may have to dedicate the use of a particular blood processing machine to a single patient while others are forced to wait or seek treatment elsewhere. At other times, a treatment center may have excess capacity that translates to higher overhead and increased healthcare costs.
Accordingly, there is a need for blood processing clinics, systems, machines, and methods that provide greater flexibility, convenience, and functionality to both patients and caregivers.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds