News

We were delighted to host the annual Nordic Peritoneal Oncology Group meeting at the Norwegian Radium Hospital. The meeting brought together colleagues from across the Nordic countries for two days of clinical and scientific exchange, collaboration, and discussion.

Participants shared updates on ongoing activities in the Nordic centers, and several exciting clinical and translational research projects were presented.

We were also honored to welcome four distinguished external speakers:

Mr. Faheez Mohamed, Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital, discussed their experience, together with University of Oxford, with multivisceral transplantation in patients with rare cancer pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP). He also presented updates from the ongoing HIPEC trial comparing low- and high-dose mitomycin C.

Associate Professor Gustaf Herlenius, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, presented current experiences and future possibilities for multivisceral transplantation in PMP within the Nordic countries.

Professor Donal Brennan, University College Dublin and Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, provided an update on the current status of CRS and HIPEC treatment for advanced ovarian cancer.

Dr. Arend G. J. Aalbers, Netherlands Cancer Institute, gave an insightful presentation on algorithms for neoadjuvant immunotherapy in patients with peritoneal metastases from dMMR colorectal cancer.

In addition, several challenging and interesting clinical cases were presented, leading to valuable multidisciplinary discussions and exchange of experience among the participants.

We would like to thank all participants for contributing to a successful meeting filled with excellent presentations, important discussions, and inspiring scientific exchange.

OUS have published a blog post (in Norwegian) on the Pseudovax cancer vaccine trial read here 

On the occasion of the International day of women and girls in science on 11 February, professor and consultant surgeon Kjersti Flatmark was interviewed in a magazine of NMAS suppliers of laboratory equipment to highlight researchers who contribute to medical advances through clinical work and research.

Read how translational cancer research leads to new treatment opportunities for the rare cancer Pseudomyxoma Peritonei. (Article in Norwegian)

Before the Christmas break, the major Norwegian TV channel TV2 visited the Radium Hospital to learn about the Pseudovax trial. The first patient that recived the vaccine, Mette, was the main focus, together with comments from general secretary Ingrid Stenstadvold Ross in the Norwegian Cancer Society and Kjersti Flatmark, one of the lead investigators of the study. 
The Pseudovax clinical trial will evaluate a novel cancer vaccine developed at the Norwegian Radium Hospital specifically for patients with Pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP) . 
"If the vaccine proves to be effective, we hope that this could become an new treatment option for patients with PMP who are not cured by surgery", Flatmark says.

After years of planning and preparation, we are proud to share that the first patient in the Pseudovax trial  has now received the initial vaccine dose and everything has gone smoothly.

This important milestone was celebrated on Friday, November 14th, together with collaborators, colleagues, and representatives from the user panel, with cake and coffee.

A delegation of nine clinicians and researchers from Oslo University Hospital attended the 15th International Congress on Peritoneal Surface Malignancies in Barcelona, held 29 to 31 October, 2025. The conference featured a wide range of engaging presentations, sharing diverse clinical experiences and the latest scientific advances. It also offered plenty opportunities to connect with both long-standing and new international colleagues and collaborators.

The Pseudovax trial will explore a novel peptide vaccine targeting mutated GNAS in combination with PD-1 inhibition in patients with recurrent or unresectable pseudomyxoma peritonei.

For more information about the Pseudovax trial click here

A  delegation of  10 with both clinicians and researchers from Oslo University Hospital attended the 13th International Congress on Peritoneal Surface Malignancies in Venice, October 4th – 6th, 2023. The conference had a lot of exciting presentations with different practice experiences and cutting-edge scientific knowledge, and there was a lot of opportunity to talk to long-standing and new international colleagues and collaborators.

On Friday 22 September, a common research meeting was organized at Institute for Cancer Research by Section for oncological pelvic surgery and the Translational Cancer Therapy research group. A number of collaborative partners and our user panel were present.

Clinical and translational research projects were presented to give the participants an overview of ongoing research activities and insight into why these projects are important.  An important purpose of the meeting was to strengthen the close collaboration between the clinical and translational teams.

On Friday 26 May, the Minister of Health and Care Services Ingvild Kjerkol received a report from the regional health trust with national key figures and a mention of the best research and innovation projects in the hospitals in 2022.
The Pseudovax project was chosen as one of several important research projects to be presented in this national report. And this specific project was earlier this year selected as the project from our health trust to be presented in connection with the submission of the report to the Minister of Health. Kjersti was invited to give a 12 min oral presentation together with one project from each of the other health regions in connection with the report being handed over to the Minister of Health and Care Services.

The new PERIMMUNE project, with collaborators from Belgium, France, Germany and Turkey has begun and the norwegian collaborators , members of Kjersti Flatmarks and Else Marit Inderbergs groups and study nurses involved in the project met to get more acquainted, discuss the results from the pilot study and future execution of the project.  

User participation is important in research, and can make it better and more relevant. Kjersti was invited by the Norwegian Cancer Society to give a short talk on user involvement in our research during the seminar last week "How do we succeed with user-MED action in research?". "We have been working to involve users in our projects since 2017. User participation is important for us researchers to understand how the disease affects the patients and their caretakers. User participation has also been instrumental in teaching us  how to better communicate our research and research results in a clear and understandable way." says Kjersti Flatmark

Members of the Translational Cancer Therapy research group and Section for Oncological pelvic surgery participated in an inspiring and fruitful translational research meeting at Norefjell  15^th-16^th September with the kind support from Hydros fond. There were presentations of both clinical and translational research projects, giving the participants a better understanding of each other’s work, with the aim of improving the collaboration between the groups and thus also improve the research.

Thursday June 23^rd , a meeting for all the members of the EuroPMP Cost action were held in Ghent, Belgium. This was the first face to face meeting in EuroPMP since the start of the COVID pandemic. Colleagues from all over Europe, all working together to improve the treatment for patients with Pseudomyxoma peritonei attended. Everyone was thrilled at finally getting the chance to meet colleagues face to face after the pandemic to exchange ideas, research results and further promote collaboration.

On Friday 15 October, an inspiring translational research meeting was organized at the Institute for Cancer Research. Invited participants from the Section for Oncological pelvic surgery and the Translational Cancer Therapy research group, together with a number of collaborative partners and our user panel were present.

"We are so happy that we finally had the opportunity to organize such a meeting again. It is important to be able to meet and present and discuss many of our exciting research projects" says head of Oncological pelvic surgery Dr. Stein G. Larsen.