Patent ID: 8801652

Claim:
An apparatus for testing peritoneal dialysis (PD) effluent in a flow path, comprising A. an illumination source that illuminates peritoneal effluent in the flow path; B. a detector that (i) detects an illuminant any of reflected and scattered (hereinafter, collectively, “scattered”) by the effluent, and (ii) includes a lens that resolves the scattered illuminant at a cellular scale of resolution such that separate cellular-sized components of a same type are distinguished from one another, where those components are any of white blood cells, red blood cells, fibrin, bubbles, and other cellular-sized components of the fluid, wherein the detector detects the scattered illuminant at a cellular scale of resolution such that said separate cellular-sized components of the same type in the effluent are (a) distinguished from one another based on an intensity and/or location of illuminant that is scattered therefrom and that is resolved by the lens, and (b) counted, and wherein the number of counts are analyzed over time and/or from a baseline to signal the onset of peritonitis.