About the Authors

Zachary A. Smith

Affiliation Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, Department of Neurological Surgery, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America

Georgios A. Vastardis

Affiliations Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Maywood, Illinois, United States of America, Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital, Hines, Illinois, United States of America

Gerard Carandang

Affiliations Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Maywood, Illinois, United States of America, Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital, Hines, Illinois, United States of America

Robert M. Havey

Affiliations Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Maywood, Illinois, United States of America, Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital, Hines, Illinois, United States of America

Sean Hannon

Affiliations Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Maywood, Illinois, United States of America, Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital, Hines, Illinois, United States of America

Nader Dahdaleh

Affiliation Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, Department of Neurological Surgery, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America

Leonard I. Voronov

Affiliations Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Maywood, Illinois, United States of America, Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital, Hines, Illinois, United States of America

Richard G. Fessler

Affiliation Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, Department of Neurological Surgery, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America

Avinash G. Patwardhan

apatwar@lumc.edu

Affiliations Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Maywood, Illinois, United States of America, Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital, Hines, Illinois, United States of America

Competing Interests

Dr. Zachary A. Smith is a PLOS ONE Editorial Board member. Unrelated to this study, Dr. Z. A. Smith receives educational grant funding support from Medtronic Inc. (Memphis, TN). There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: ZS RH ND LV RF AP. Performed the experiments: GV SH. Analyzed the data: GC ZS RH ND LV RF AP. Wrote the paper: ZS GC RH ND LV RF AP.