Patent ID: 7947033

Claim:
A wound fluid blood detection system operable in conjunction with a reduced pressure wound treatment (RPWT) system wherein the RPWT system includes a tubular conduit for conducting reduced pressure to a wound dressing and withdrawing wound fluids from the wound, the blood detection system comprising: a detection shunt for diverting at least a portion of a flow of said wound fluids away from the tubular conduit and into a fixed volume; an electromagnetic (EM) wave source oriented to at least partially illuminate the fixed volume of said detection shunt wherein wound fluid is present during normal operation of said RPWT system; and an electromagnetic (EM) wave detector positioned to be receptive of attenuated EM waves originating from said EM wave source and attenuated when passing through the fixed volume of said detection shunt, wherein the attenuation of the attenuated EM waves results from a partial and wavelength-specific absorption of waves by the components of the wound fluid and the absorption is measurable and indicative of a level of blood within the wound fluid.