Allergy Center: Division of General Allergy, Division of Dermatological Allergy, Division of Gastrointestinal Allergy

As the national core hospital for allergic diseases, we provide high quality medical management of allergic disorders and promote clinical research in allergology. Our track record of successful treatments shows that we can do much to alleviate if not outright cure severe allergic diseases in children and vastly improve our patients' quality of life.

The Allergy Center was established in June, 2018 and includes the general allergy department, skin allergy department, and gastrointestinal allergy department, which work together to diagnose allergic diseases and treat affected children. Nine allergologists certified by the Japanese Society of Allergology are on our staff. Patient education is provided by pediatric allergy educators.
Patient educat ion programs (on atopic dermatitis, food allergy, infant allergy, and asthma) are provided to help families understand and cope with these diseases in their children. Patient education programs (on food allergy and atopic dermatitis) are also available for school pupils. We are active in conducting clinical research to develop novel methods of preventing, treating, and diagnosing allergic diseases in collaboration with the National Research Institute and National Clinical Research Center.

We devise personalized treatment based on clinical guidelines and highly reliable medical evidence. Our policy is to provide patients and their caregivers the best outcomes through a comprehensive approach that incorporates best practice and patient education.

To diagnose food allergy and determine the safety threshold for a patient's consumption of causal foods, we administer oral food challenge (OFC) tests. The number of OFCs is increasing yearly (1,236 cases in 2018). The Allergy Center was the first center in Japan to start oral immunotherapy (2004). We have since then been conducting oral immunotherapy by administering low doses of the causal foods to achieve the resolution of food allergy symptoms. The aim of our clinical research is to develop safer and more effective immunotherapies.

The Allergy Center has a fund of experience in the medical management of children with severe AD who have failed to thrive and/or have an electrolyte abnormality without AD remission despite having received medical treatment at other clinics. We provide proactive therapy aimed at preventing exacerbation by using antiinflammatory medications intermittently even after the symptoms have resolved to maintain remission without recourse to stronger medications. Doctors, pediatric allergy educators, and nurses work together to help children learn about AD and appropriate skincare as well.

The Allergy Center provides standard treatment for bronchial asthma and educates patients about their condition. Although many children today are able to control their asthma well, thanks to the progress of treatments, we occasionally see children with intractable asthma that can not be controlled with standard management methods. Most of these patients are treated via respondent conditioning and/or operant conditioning. We evaluate these patients not only biomedically but also psychosocially and use the behavioral medicinal approach if needed, including a few months of inpatient care. Anti-IgE therapy is also used to treat severe cases of asthma.

The Allergy Center provides medical care for food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome (FPIES), which produces symptoms such as vomiting, bloody stools, diarrhea, and failure to thrive due to causal food intake. We base our diagnosis on the results of blood and stool tests and gastrointestinal endoscopy. We administer multiple food elimination therapy and long-term oral food challenge tests for children with severe FPIES in order to identify the causal food and provide nutritional guidance.

Children can be t reated wi th sublingual immunotherapy in addition to pharmacotherapy using oral medications and nasal sprays. We treat children based on current, high-level medical evidence, such as that included in the AR guidelines. We provide complete support to children and their families to help them achieve a better QOL through the improvement of AR symptoms.

Oral immunotherapy for food allergy, management of habitual scratching behavior in severe atopic dermatitis patients based on behavior analysis, behavioral therapy to treat intractable asthma and associated diseases, and multiple food removal therapy for FPIES and eosinophilic gastrointestinal disease are some of the specialized treatments we provide.

The oral food challenge test, skin prick test, patch test, blood test for allergen-specific IgE antibody, respiratory function test, fractional exhaled nitric oxide test, methacholine and exercise challenge test for airway hyperresponsiveness are some performance tests that we frequently administer.