Patent ID: 6855120

Claim:
A disposable centrifugal apheresis system for use in a centrifuge, said system comprising a separation chamber; a whole blood flow path communicating at one end with said chamber and including a connector at the other end for connecting to a blood vessel in a living human, said whole blood tubing including flexible plastic tubing comprising a pump segment for cooperating with a peristaltic pump on the centrifuge for pumping whole blood through said whole blood flow path; an anticoagulant flow path communicating at one end with said whole blood flow path and including another end for connecting to an anticoagulant source, said one end of the anticoagulant flow path communicating with said whole blood flow path at a single location relatively close to said other end of the whole blood flow path, said anticoagulant flow path including flexible plastic tubing comprising a pump segment for cooperating with a peristaltic pump for pumping anticoagulant through said anticoagulant flow path; a return flow path communicating at one end with said chamber and communicating at the other end with selected one of a connector for connection to the human and said whole blood flow path for returning one or more components to the human; and said anticoagulant flow path between said pump segment and said whole blood flow path including a fixed and non-variable flow restriction to limit the free flow of anticoagulant into said whole blood flow path and thereby limit but not completely block the amount of anticoagulant that may be returned to the human source.