Patent ID: RE38869

Claim:
An extracorporeal blood circuit comprising: a withdrawal tube connectable at a first end to a first peripheral blood vessel a vascular system of a mammalian patient; a filter having a blood input connectable to a second end of the withdrawal tube; a return tube having a first end connectable to an output of the filter and a second end connectable to a second peripheral blood vessel the vascular system ; a continuous blood passage is formed in said withdrawal tube, filter and return tube through which blood is withdrawn from the first peripheral blood vessel vascular system , filtered and returned to the second blood vessel; vascular system, and wherein said continuous blood passage is air free and further wherein said filter has a concentration rise flow volume of no greater than 15% of the total volume of the filter, where the concentration flow volume is defined as a volume of flow through the output of the filter during which a concentration of a first fluid flowing through the filter output rises from a concentration of 10% to a concentration of 90%.