We present an optical probe arrangement that surrounds blood in a
receptacle. It comprises LED's and light detector arranged to overcome
the variations when the receptacle is translucent medical tubing and the
like. Also, a signal processing algorithm is used to average signals from
a plurality of light detectors, to further enhance results when measuring
hematocrit. The invention makes it possible to add the feature of
hematocrit measurement into dialysis system without major alterations to
the dialysis machine or transport tubing.