I'm a doctor dedicated to improving health and cancer care. Trust, learn, collaborate. Neutral good. He/him. עם ישראל חי
Manchester, NH
Joined November 2009
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Matthew Katz, MD 🇺🇸🟦 retweeted
Some feel good news.
Robert Kraft’s Blue Square gala pulls in $32 million.
Tom Brady, Jon Bon Jovi and leaders from business and faith communities were among those supporting the effort.
The initiative focuses on combating antisemitism and encouraging people outside the Jewish community to actively oppose anti-Jewish hatred.
jewishinsider.com/2026/10/ro…
Matthew Katz, MD 🇺🇸🟦 retweeted
MASTERPLAN full publication is out!!
The RT volumes are worth a closer look. CTV = primary GTV + nodal GTV + tumour-vessel interface. The TVI extends 5 mm proximally and 5 mm distally along involved/closely adjacent vessels, for patients where surgery is likely. PTV = CTV/ITV + 5 mm. No elective nodal irradiation, and no elective perineural or celiac/SMA plexus volume specified in the protocol. That is a focused target, with gross nodal disease included.
Real-time RTQA is a big part of this story. Review identified 36 major planning deviations in 12 patients, reduced to 2 deviations in 2 patients after QA. All plans passed independent review before treatment. As a radiation oncologist, I want that detail alongside the outcomes. Reproducing the treatment means reproducing the contour review, OAR constraints and image guidance too.
Also worth keeping the treatment delivery denominator in view: only 40/49 patients assigned to SBRT actually received it (82%). The efficacy analysis is intention-to-treat. It should not be read as an outcome series of patients who all completed SBRT.
The surgical numbers need some unpacking. All comparisons below are chemo + SBRT vs chemo alone:
✅ Underwent surgery: 62% vs 44% (29/47 vs 11/25).
✅ Completed resection: 53% vs 44% (25/47 vs 11/25).
✅ R0 among all resected patients: 52% vs 36% (13/25 vs 4/11).
✅ R0 in the resected POPC subset: 62% vs 40% (13/21 vs 4/10).
POPC is the potentially operable cohort. So the 62% surgery figure includes exploration without resection, while the 62% R0 figure applies only to resected POPC patients. These are different endpoints with different denominators. None of those between-arm surgical comparisons was statistically significant. The paper also defines R0 as more than 1 mm clearance.
Adjuvant chemo is another important difference: 80% vs 36% of resected patients received it (20/25 vs 4/11). That complicates attribution within the treatment pathway. Early progression in the control group may have contributed, so this is a post-randomisation imbalance with more than one possible explanation. The post-hoc analyses were directionally consistent, but the authors explicitly caution about selection bias.
For the planning details: PTV_EVAL excluded the GI PRVs, with a minimum 3 mm PRV expansion. OAR constraints took priority over target coverage. Duodenum, stomach and small bowel D0.5cc were each constrained to <33 Gy, with V30 <5 cc. Delivery used standard linacs; breath hold was recommended, and fiducials were placed in 35/40 patients (88%). This is relevant to how we would implement the approach in practice.
With no elective nodes, isolated regional nodal relapse was 4% vs 8% (2/49 vs 2/25). Reassuring, although that does not establish the optimal elective volume (especially considering these patients went to surgery - ASTRO/NRG recommends inclusion of elective perineural coverage). Overall G3+ AEs were 70% vs 64% (33/47 vs 16/25). One G3 pancreatitis and one G2 small bowel obstruction were attributed to SBRT. The practical takeaway for me is to keep the target definition and prospective QA attached to the results, and to be precise about what the surgery and R0 numbers actually measure.
Matthew Katz, MD 🇺🇸🟦 retweeted
🚨SANO 5y: surveillance vs surgery after cCR
OS 50% vs 54% (NS)
Distant mets 46% vs 29% (P<.01)
Reminder: only 41.4 Gy/23 fx, a pre-op, arguably non-definitive dose, especially with/ ~75% adenocarcinoma.
Nonsignificant OS doesn't establish noninferiority.
#ESMO26 #RadOnc #OncTwitter
Matthew Katz, MD 🇺🇸🟦 retweeted
When you type an unpublished idea into a chatbot or coding agent, could it end up being used by the company that built the model—or a rival who asks the right question a year later? And what can you do to reduce the risk?
No setting makes a chatbot fully private, but experts suggest steps that can make leaks much less likely: scim.ag/4sihqtz
ALT Could your chatbot tip off a scientific rival? It’s possible, researchers say
Matthew Katz, MD 🇺🇸🟦 retweeted
So thrilled to share in this work with @DrJennyReese and our team!
Excited to get the word out about our SHIFT course to train hem-onc fellows in discussing sexual health at #ASCOQLTY26 Keep an eye out for the pub in the works and the next step…disseminating this more widely
ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1200…
Thank you @hjluks ! 🙏
An orthopedic surgeon and a performance coach developed a resistance training routine that protects and strengthens knees by improving the body’s ability to move.
Here’s how to do these exercises: wapo.st/4hX2Liz
Matthew Katz, MD 🇺🇸🟦 retweeted
👇
🇺🇦 Zelenskyy delivers a blunt message to the United States:
“Just give us Starlink back. If you refuse, Ukraine will survive. We will continue defending ourselves with or without it.
But why would you restrict a country fighting for its survival? Why make it harder for us to defend our people?
I simply cannot understand the reasoning behind this decision. It is a mistake.”
Ukraine isn’t asking America to fight its war. It’s asking America not to stand in the way of its defense.
Matthew Katz, MD 🇺🇸🟦 retweeted
"A combination of human-only ideas and expertise was improved through AI interaction"
I missed the news that former Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman John Urschel is now math faculty at MIT. What I do find interesting is his approach to disclosing AI use in his papers. It’s detailed and transparent. It reads less about claiming authorship contribution and more as unapologetically sharing his research process in the spirit of scientific reproducibility.
Matthew Katz, MD 🇺🇸🟦 retweeted
Dr @EthanBasch1 #ASCOQLTY26 on data from OncoPRO a national learning collaborative supporting use of electronic patient reported outcomes. Nurses (frontline #PRO response) had anticipatory concerns; thankfully, interviews showed that the workload was considered very manageable.
Matthew Katz, MD 🇺🇸🟦 retweeted
1/n Our Ph2 trial of Atezolizumab added to SOC prostate-directed SBRT + ADT/ARPI in de novo metastatic prostate cancer. TL;DR: we found unacceptable, synergistic toxicities attributable to the combination of SBRT (CT guided, 7.5-8 Gy x 5, QOD; daily CBCT with intra-fraction monitoring for most) and IO: sigmoid colon perforations x 2. There were no significant improvements in tumor control end-points compared to historical controls within the group as a whole. #radonc #pcsm
ascopubs.org/doi/full/10.120…
Matthew Katz, MD 🇺🇸🟦 retweeted
At conferences and in journal articles, let’s demand for complete transparent reporting of adverse events. Without this, there can be no informed discussion of risks and benefits. academic.oup.com/jnci/advanc…
Matthew Katz, MD 🇺🇸🟦 retweeted
Amar'e Stoudemire made $161 million playing basketball. He just finished police academy at 43 for a job where rookie cops in Miami-Dade start around $58K a year, which is about a quarter of what the Knicks paid him for one game.
Once you hear how he grew up, it might be the least surprising career move in sports.
His dad died of a heart attack when he was 12. His mom was in and out of prison for petty theft and forgery, and every time her life got turned upside down, his did too.
By the time he graduated, he'd bounced between five high schools in two states, six different times. Transcript problems from all that moving cost him most of a freshman season and then a full year of eligibility. He didn't even start playing organized basketball until he was 14.
A few of the people who kept him on track weren't family. His AAU coach took him in, a minister helped, and so did a local cop named Burney Hayes, who let him crash at his place sometimes.
All the moving left him with two full high school seasons. That was enough for Phoenix to take him 9th overall in 2002, the only high schooler picked in the first round that year, and he beat out Yao Ming for Rookie of the Year. He made six All-Star teams, had microfracture surgery on both knees, signed a $99.7 million deal in New York, and got inducted into the Hall of Fame two months ago.
He also owned a piece of a pro team in Jerusalem. Nobody would've said a word if he'd just enjoyed the money.
So at 43 he signed up for a 10½-month academy and told SI parts of it were as tough as anything in the NBA. He walked out with an award for what he gave his class. His uncle, cousin and sister were already in law enforcement, and when they asked him on career day what he wanted to be, he said cop.
He's joining Miami-Dade Schools Police, the department that actually works the hallways.
Some kid in Miami is going to switch schools for the third time this year, and the officer at the door will be a 6'10" Hall of Famer who did it six times.
Matthew Katz, MD 🇺🇸🟦 retweeted
Black Americans appear to be the most supportive of Israel among all demographics in the US, interestingly enough.
Matthew Katz, MD 🇺🇸🟦 retweeted
Catching up with some amazing #radonc health services researchers at #ASCOQLTY26 🔥☢️⚡️
Matthew Katz, MD 🇺🇸🟦 retweeted
World Spine Day | October 16
The spine presents unique challenges in radiation oncology, particularly when treating metastatic disease near the spinal cord and other critical structures.
In recognition of #WorldSpineDay, we're highlighting an Applied Radiation Oncology article exploring stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) for oligometastatic spine disease, including patient selection, treatment considerations, and the importance of multidisciplinary care.
🔗 Read the article: zurl.co/0mLSy
#RadiationOncology #SpineSBRT #SpinalMetastases #RadOnc #RadOncEd
Matthew Katz, MD 🇺🇸🟦 retweeted
Nothing but love and respect for the important work Hen does. But, I really wish we would stop responding to accusations of European colonialism by pointing out that not all Jews came from Europe. Jews are not originally from Europe. Full stop. Ashkenazi Jews are not any less indigenous to the Land of Israel than Mizrahi or Sephardi Jews. The fact that Jewish populations spent centuries in exile across different continents does not somehow change the geographic origins of the Jewish people. Every time we respond by emphasizing that some Jews never lived in Europe, we inadvertently concede the premise that Ashkenazi Jews are European colonizers, or at least suggest that there is a shred of truth to that accusation.
Signed,
A Sephardi Jew.
"They took land off people and they were excessive."
Obama's comments in Belfast make it seem like Israel was a random place Jews had no connection to, not a homeland we had been continuously connected to for millenia.
He ignores the fact that before Israel, Britain controlled the territory. When Israel was established, 7 Arab countries immediately attacked. That's the context in which displacement occurred.
He also ignores the displacement that my Iraqi and Tunisian Jewish family experienced. My grandmother survived the Farhud, a massacre of Bagdhad's Jews.
My family never lived in Europe. They were among the 850,000 Jews from the Middle East and North Africa who lost their homes. Israel was their only refuge.
I will never be silent while the expulsion of Mizrahi Jews, who are the majority of Israeli Jews today, are erased from history to fit a narrative.
Matthew Katz, MD 🇺🇸🟦 retweeted
A stunning admission by Hezbollah and a crucial test for the Lebanese state.
A Hezbollah lawmaker said on Thursday that hundreds of kilograms of explosives seized last week by Lebanese security forces belonged to his group, as tensions persist over the government's push to disarm the Iran-backed movement.
Lebanese authorities stopped the explosives-laden vehicle at a checkpoint in the eastern Bekaa region last week and arrested two people in the car.
Matthew Katz, MD 🇺🇸🟦 retweeted
How often are we prescribing hormone therapy after treatment-induced menopause in cervical cancer survivors treated with radiation?
Stop by during Poster Session A, Board G8 at #ASCOQLTY26 to discuss our findings and ways to improve survivorship care!
ascopubs.org/doi/10.1200/OP.…
#gyncsm #survivorship @Deniskafab
Matthew Katz, MD 🇺🇸🟦 retweeted
Now out in #JCO!
NRG-BR002: A Randomized Phase II/III Trial of Metastasis-Directed Ablation With First-Line Systemic Therapy for Oligometastatic Breast Cancer. Co-authored by @Docace911
Read the article. bit.ly/3VGspka
#BreastCancer #bcsm
