Appeal No. 98-1316
Application No. 08/420,896
containments in the form of waste products and excess water
received from the patient) is pumped by constant speed pump 16
first to dialyzer 24 (which regenerates and purifies the
dialysate fluid by removing the containments) and thereafter
to the three-liter bag 48 (from where it can once again be
pumped back into the patient). See, generally, column 3, line
67, through column 5, line 13.
According to the above-quoted portion of the
specification, arrangements such as that of Jacobsen are
"desirable" but "quite complex" in their operation, set-up and
control. In an effort to provide a simplified system and
procedure for achieving peritoneal dialysis, the appellants
simply provide a reservoir container 28 for an amount of
dialysate fluid that is at least about 1½ times the volume of
the peritoneal cavity of a patient and a single pump 24 is
used for reversibly pumping the dialysate fluid back and forth
from the patient to the reservoir container so that the
dialysate fluid pumped from the patient (which contains more
containments) is "diluted" by mixing it with the dialysate
fluid in the reservoir container (which contains less
containments). Although the concentration of containments in
the dialysate fluid contained in the reservoir container
6
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