Systems and methods for conveying multiple blood components to a recipient

1. A method for conveying an amount of red blood cells from a red blood cell source and an amount of plasma from a plasma source to a living recipient comprising:

conveying a volume of the red blood cells from the red blood cell source to the living recipient; and

separately conveying a volume of the plasma from the plasma source to the living recipient without pooling said volumes of red blood cells and plasma, wherein said conveying a volume of the red blood cells to the living recipient and said separately conveying a volume of the plasma to the living recipient are alternated repeatedly during conveyance of said amounts of red blood cells and plasma.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said conveying a volume of the red blood cells from the red blood cell source to the living recipient includes simultaneously conveying plasma into the plasma source and conveying red blood cells from a plurality of red blood cell sources to the living recipient, and wherein said separately conveying a volume of the plasma from the plasma source to the living recipient includes simultaneously conveying red blood cells into the red blood cell source and conveying plasma from a plurality of plasma sources to the living recipient.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising

calculating said amount of red blood cells to convey to the living recipient;

calculating said amount of plasma to convey to the living recipient; and

calculating an interleaving ratio based, at least in part, on the calculated amounts of red blood cells and plasma to convey to the living recipient, and wherein

said conveying a volume of the red blood cells from the red blood cell source to the living recipient includes pumping red blood cells to the living recipient during a red blood cell pumping interval,

said separately conveying a volume of the plasma from the plasma source to the living recipient includes pumping plasma to the living recipient during a plasma pumping interval, and

the durations of said red blood cell and plasma pumping intervals are based, at least in part, on said interleaving ratio.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising

conveying blood from the living recipient into a separation device;

operating said separation device to separate the blood into a layer containing red blood cells and a layer containing plasma;

removing separated red blood cells from the separation device; and

removing separated plasma from the separation device prior to said conveying a volume of the red blood cells from the red blood cell source to the living recipient and said separately conveying a volume of the plasma from the plasma source to the living recipient.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein said conveying a volume of the red blood cells from the red blood cell source to the living recipient and said separately conveying a volume of the plasma from the plasma source to the living recipient include simultaneously conveying blood into the separation device.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein said conveying a volume of the red blood cells from the red blood cell source to the living recipient includes simultaneously conveying separated plasma from the separation device into a plasma collection container and wherein said separately conveying a volume of the plasma from the plasma source to the living recipient includes simultaneously conveying separated red blood cells from the separation device into a red blood cell collection container.

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein said removing separated red blood cells from the separation device includes conveying said separated red blood cells to a red blood cell collection container, and wherein said conveying a volume of the red blood cells from the red blood cell source to the living recipient includes conveying red blood cells from the red blood cell collection container and from the separation device to the living recipient.

8. The method of claim 4 , wherein said removing separated plasma from the separation device includes conveying said separated plasma to a plasma collection container, and wherein said separately conveying a volume of the plasma from the plasma source to the living recipient includes conveying plasma from the plasma collection container and from the separation device to the living recipient.

9. The method of claim 1 employing a blood separation system comprising:

a pump system; and

a controller, wherein

said conveying a volume of the red blood cells from the red blood cell source to the living recipient includes conveying said volume of the red blood cells from the red blood cell source to the living recipient using the pump system;

said separately conveying a volume of the plasma from the plasma source to the living recipient includes conveying said volume of the plasma from the plasma source to the living recipient using the pump system; and

the controller repeatedly alternates between actuating the pump system to convey the red blood cells and the plasma to the living recipient during conveyance of said amounts of red blood cells and plasma.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the system further comprises a second red blood cell source and wherein the pump system simultaneously conveys plasma into the plasma source and red blood cells from the red blood cell source and/or the second red blood cell source to the living recipient.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the system further comprises a second plasma source and the pump system simultaneously conveys red blood cells into the red blood cell source and plasma from the plasma source and/or the second plasma source to the living recipient.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the controller

calculates said amount of red blood cells to convey to the living recipient;

calculates said amount of plasma to convey to the living recipient; and

calculates an interleaving ratio based, at least in part, on the calculated amounts of red blood cells and plasma to convey to the living recipient,

actuates the pump system to convey a volume of the red blood cells from the red blood cell source to the living recipient during a red blood cell pumping interval, and

actuates the pump system to convey a volume of the plasma from the plasma source to the living recipient during a plasma pumping interval, wherein the durations of said red blood cell and plasma pumping intervals are based, at least in part, on said interleaving ratio.

13. The method of claim 1 employing a blood separation system comprising:

a separation device adapted to separate blood into a layer containing red blood cells and a layer containing plasma;

a pump system; and

a controller, wherein

the pump system conveys blood into the separation device;

the separation device separates the blood therein into a layer containing red blood cells and a layer containing plasma;

the pump system removes separated red blood cells from the separation device;

the pump system removes separated plasma from the separation device;

the pump system implements said conveying a volume of the red blood cells from the red blood cell source to the living recipient by conveying a volume of said removed red blood cells to the living recipient;

the pump system implements said separately conveying a volume of the plasma from the plasma source to the living recipient by conveying a volume of said removed plasma to the living recipient; and

the controller repeatedly alternates between actuating the pump system to convey the red blood cells and the plasma to the living recipient during conveyance of said amounts of red blood cells and plasma.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the pump system simultaneously conveys blood into the separation device while conveying red blood cells to the living recipient and simultaneously conveys blood into the separation device while conveying plasma to the living recipient.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the system further comprises a plasma collection container, and wherein the pump system conveys plasma into the plasma collection container while conveying red blood cells to the living recipient.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the system further comprises a red blood cell collection container containing red blood cells, and wherein the pump system conveys red blood cells from the red blood cell collection container and the separation device to the living recipient.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein the system further comprises a red blood cell collection container, and wherein the pump system conveys red blood cells into the red blood cell collection container while conveying plasma to the living recipient.

18. The method of claim 13 , wherein the system further comprises a plasma collection container containing plasma, and wherein the pump system conveys plasma from the plasma collection container and the separation device to the living recipient.

19. The method of claim 13 , wherein the controller

calculates said amount of red blood cells to convey to the living recipient;

calculates said amount of plasma to convey to the living recipient; and

calculates an interleaving ratio based, at least in part, on the calculated amounts of red blood cells and plasma to convey to the living recipient, wherein said volumes of red blood cells and plasma are based, at least in part, on said interleaving ratio.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the pump system conveys red blood cells to the living recipient during a red blood cell pumping interval and conveys plasma to the living recipient during a plasma pumping interval, and wherein said volume of red blood cells is determined by the duration of the red blood cell pumping interval, said volume of plasma is determined by the duration of the plasma pumping interval, and the durations of said red blood cell and plasma pumping intervals are based, at least in part, on said interleaving ratio.