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Annual Report 2023

Department of Infectious Diseases

Keiji Okinaka, Yusuke Ainoda

Introduction

 The mission of the Department of Infectious Diseases is to provide expert consultation on clinical infectious diseases.

 We also collaborate closely with the Office of Infection Control and Prevention to prevent healthcare-associated infections, particularly during cancer care in order to ensure a safe healthcare environment.

The Team and What We Do

  • Our team provides medical support for fever and infections in cancer patients, handling a total of 285 cases during the period (Table 1). We work in tandem with the Office of Infection Control and Prevention to enhance infection control measures.
  • Our team followed 344 cases of positive blood cultures during the period.
  • The total number of patients confirmed to have been treated by broad-spectrum antimicrobials at our hospital during the period was 5,902 cases, including 619 out of 630 cases where intervention occurred within one week following advice from our department.

Table 1. Number of infectious diseases consultation
Table 1. Number of infectious diseases consultation

Table 1. Number of infectious diseases consultation
Table 1. Number of infectious diseases consultation

Research Activities

  • We hold weekly research meetings to support and promote interdisciplinary research within the Office of Infection Control and Prevention.
  • Dr. Okinaka reported the results of a multicenter randomized controlled trial comparing two pneumococcal vaccination schedules at the Department of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation, the National Cancer Center Hospital. This study was recognized as one of the Top 10 papers in the Infectious Diseases Section at the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation’s annual meeting in April 2023.

Education

  • We conduct a weekly journal club, engaging various healthcare professionals, in collaboration with the Office of Infection Control and Prevention, the National Cancer Center Hospital.
  • Our team provides infectious diseases lectures as part of the Clinical Oncology Education Intensive Course for residents.
  • We deliver lectures at patient group meetings on infection prevention.
  • In partnership with other national centers’ departments of infectious diseases, we organize regular educational conferences to enhance infection control knowledge.
  • Residents from other departments have begun choosing our department for their rotations.

Future Prospects

  • We will continue collaborating with the Office of Infection Control and Prevention to prevent intra-hospital transmission of infections, including COVID-19.
  • We secure medical education funding to take the initiative in promoting vaccination for cancer patients.
  • We plan to obtain research funding to conduct studies, such as questionnaire surveys on vaccination promotion.
  • We are actively recruiting residents and are committed to nurturing the next generation of healthcare professionals.

List of papers published in 2023

Journal

1. Itoh N, Akazawa N, Kurai H, Kawamura I, Okinaka K, Fujita T, Sekiya N, Takeda K, Shiotsuka M, Ishikane M, Iwamoto N, Ohmagari N, Suzuki T. A nationwide cross-sectional study using a web-based questionnaire survey of the duration of isolation of COVID-19 inpatients with cancer at Japanese cancer centers. Journal of infection and chemotherapy, 29:1185-1188, 2023

2. Okinaka K, Inoue Y, Uchida N, Toya T, Ogawa H, Ozawa Y, Eto T, Mori T, Sugita J, Kondo T, Kato K, Suzuki R, Fukuda T. Clinical characteristics and risk factors of pneumococcal diseases in recipients of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplants in the late phase: A retrospective registry study . Journal of infection and chemotherapy : official journal of the Japan Society of Chemotherapy, 29:726-730 , 2023

3. Okinaka K, Akeda Y, Inamoto Y, Fuji S, Ito A, Tanaka T, Kurosawa S, Kim SW, Tanosaki R, Yamashita T, Ohwada C, Kurata K, Mori T, Onozawa M, Takano K, Yokoyama H, Koh K, Nagafuji K, Nakayama K, Sakura T, Takahashi T, Oishi K, Fukuda T. Immunogenicity of three versus four doses of 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine followed by 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine in allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation recipients: a multicentre, randomized controlled trial . Clinical microbiology and infection, 29:482-489 , 2023