Patent ID: 8449487

Claim:
A blood treatment apparatus comprising: a blood treatment unit having a fluid chamber, a blood chamber, and a semipermeable membrane separating the fluid chamber from the blood chamber; an extracorporeal blood circuit connecting a patient vascular access with said blood chamber; a treatment fluid supply line comprising a gas-containing fluid inlet connected to a gas-containing fluid source, and a treatment fluid outlet connected to said fluid chamber and/or to said extracorporeal blood circuit; a degassing line having a degassing line inlet for receiving gas-containing fluid coming from said gas-containing fluid inlet, and a degassing line outlet for supplying degassed fluid to said treatment fluid outlet; a degassing unit operatively connected to said degassing line, said degassing unit comprising: a degassing pump for flowing the fluid in said degassing line from said degassing line inlet to said degassing line outlet, a gas separator for separating the gas in the gas-containing fluid flowing in said degassing line, and a flow restrictor for reducing the pressure of the fluid flowing in said degassing line, wherein said apparatus further comprises: an absolute pressure sensor means configured to emit an absolute pressure signal indicative of an absolute pressure in said degassing line, and a control unit programmed to control the speed of said degassing pump from said absolute pressure signal.