Abstract: Occipital plates and assemblies combining occipital plates with one of several types of spinal rods or cervical plates in a procedure to fuse a portion of a skull to a portion of a spine. An array of different occipital plates are disclosed, including options for making adjustments to the occipital plates by bending thinned portions of the occipital plates. The spinal rods engage polyaxial connector assemblies that are rotated posterior of the bony attachment section that provides an array of screw holes for affixing the occipital plate to the skull using at least one non-angled and non-articulated instrument. One or more holes for securing tensioning cables are provided in the occipital plates. Additional variations of these concepts are disclosed. Methods of using the disclosed components in surgical procedures are disclosed.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a system and method for a digital data collection software in which a handheld electronic device collects and integrates one or more forms of data for outcome reporting. The various modules within the software can provide a patient-friendly and/or physician-friendly user interface for collecting various forms of data. The data collection templates, standardized reports and surveys can comprise consecutive predefined or custom questions or checklists, where the answers may be entered by using touch screen features, nested in menus or submenus, 3D virtual anatomical models, audio and/or visual cues. A permanent record can be generated from the collected data, where the permanent record can be synchronized for later manipulation such as optimization of the data collection template, production of reports or data analysis. All permanent records can desirably have redundant storage and compliant encryption methods.