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There is a significant need for robust and objective outcome assessments in spine surgery. Constant monitoring via smartphones and wearable devices has the potential to fill this role by providing an in-depth picture of human well-being, creating an unprecedented amount of objective data to augment clinical decision-making. The metrics obtained from continuous patient monitoring increase the amount and ecological validity of data relevant to spine surgery. This can provide physicians with patient and disease-specific medical information, facilitating personalized patient care.

The referral process for consultation with a spine surgeon remains inefficient, given a substantial proportion of referrals to spine surgeons are nonoperative.

Due to technical limitations, small, distal, and tortuous intracranial pathology is sometimes out of reach of the current armamentarium of microcatheters designed for intracranial coil embolization. The Marathon microcatheter (Medtronic, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA), designed specifically for the delivery of Onyx, is longer and more flexible than most coil delivery catheters. We report on nine patients (three with arteriovenous fistula, three with arteriovenous malformation, two with intracranial aneurysm, and one with tumor) where Marathon was used to deliver commercially available platinum coils. We also conducted laboratory compatibility testing and conclude that the Marathon can be used as a coil delivery catheter for Barricade coils (Blockade Medical, Irvine, California, USA) with diameter less than 0.012 in.

Metopic synostosis represents an increasingly prevalent form of nonsyndromic craniosynostosis. Premature fusion of the metopic suture classically results in trigonocephaly, hypotelorism, temporal narrowing, and a pronounced midline forehead ridge. However, as varying degrees of skull deformity exist, there is confusion regarding the appropriate management for an infant with a metopic ridge. We report on a 2-month-old infant with clinical manifestations of metopic synostosis but with a patent metopic suture documented on computed tomography scan. We examine the implications for management related to fusion of the suture, age of the patient, and severity of the head deformity.

Orbital dysmorphology is believed to cause ipsilateral ocular abnormalities in unicoronal synostosis. Recently, there has been increasing evidence of visual problems in the contralateral eye. The purpose of this study was to explore morphology of both the ipsilateral and contralateral unicoronal synostosis orbit.

The orbitofrontal deformity in metopic synostosis is recognized clinically but has not been quantitatively defined in a large patient population. The authors' purpose was to document the dysmorphology in metopic synostosis and define subtype gradations.

Premature closure of the sagittal suture is thought to be fundamental to the etiopathology for the disease process called sagittal craniosynostosis. This process traditionally results in a well-known skull malformation termed dolichocephaly. Over recent decades, some authors have questioned the suture as the primary driving force for this pathology. This is a retrospective cases series of 4 patients from 2011 to 2012 who presented to the Yale Craniofacial Clinic for evaluation of dolichocephaly. The 4 children, 3 boys and 1 girl, had physical examinations and cranial indices concerning for sagittal craniosynostosis; however, subsequent computed tomographic imaging revealed sagittal suture patency. This series adds to a growing body of literature, which describes abnormal head shapes not attributable to overt suture pathology.