Each year in Oregon, about 300 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Most of them, according to Tanja Pejovic, MD, PhD, are diagnosed when the disease is advanced; they are treated by surgery, followed by chemotherapy. The majority of these women, Dr. Pejovic says, do well initially, and about 75 percent go into remission. But of those who go into remission, three-quarters will experience a cancer recurrence within the first two years—and at that point, she says, the cancer becomes difficult to cure.

Dr. Pejovic, a gynecologic oncologist at the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute.

OHSU is the only cancer center on the West Coast participating in the Phase 1/Phase 2 clinical research trial with a new vaccine, called Survivac-DPX, for the prevention of relapse in ovarian cancer. In this clinical trial, patients with ovarian cancer will be treated with the vaccine after completing their standard treatment in an effort to safely prolong the period of remission.

Womens Health Annual