1. Register for ABNS POST® access.
2. Business Associate Agreement: review and sign.
3. Enter information about clinical practice, such as type, setting, description, region, sub-specialty and site(s) of service.
4. Click "Finish Setup"

• Case Title: include brief description of procedure and diagnosis
• Case Overview
• Medical History: pertinent positives or negatives that are essential to understanding clinical decision-making
• Medications
• Physical Exam: pertinent positives or negatives that are essential to understanding clinical decision-making and justify the clinical outcome for this case to a clinical colleague.
• Imaging and Testing: Include up to fifteen (15) images: pre-and post-operative, intraoperative where relevant. Include imaging of all spine levels treated. Imaging cannot exceed 800kb.
• Non-surgical Management
• Diagnoses
• Surgical Management
• Pathology Results: enter results of any specimens or biopsies sent to pathology
• CPT coding
• Surgical Outcomes: Objectives of surgery, immediate outcomes (during hospital stay), intermediate outcomes (discharge to three months) and late outcomes (3-12 months)

• When entering cases, you must provide the necessary information for another neurosurgeon to understand the diagnosis, indications for surgery, operation performed, complications (if any), post-operative management, and outcomes. If your cases lack appropriate details, you may receive multiple queries and/or be asked for a systemic dataset revision.
• Case Title: The title should be brief but have relevant details. It should give the reviewer a description of the operation and diagnosis. Here are examples:
  • Right frontal craniotomy for resection of metastasis instead of "crani"
  • T5-7 laminectomies with resection of posterior epidural metastasis causing spinal cord compression instead of "met"
  • C3-5 laminectomies and instrumented fusion with resection of intradural schwannoma instead of "neck tumor"
  • Right L5-S1 microdiscectomy for right S1 radiculopathy instead of "L5-S1 disc"
• Provide enough history and neurological exam findings for the examiner to understand the indication/rationale for surgery. A straightforward operation (i.e. burr hole for chronic SDH) may require very little description, while cases like long segment decompression and fusions or craniotomies for extensive tumors, aneurysms, AVMs require more description.
• Provide enough imaging for the reviewer to understand your surgical approach. The reviewer will send you a query if imaging is inadequate and there is uncertaintly about the indication for the procedure you performed
• Complications, management, and outcome: If the patient has a complication, you must explain your management of the complication. In the follow-up/outcomes section, you should explicitly state the post-operative status of the patient’s pre-operative symptoms and neurological deficits. Avoid vague statements like “patient improved and happy with result." You may be asked for a systemic dataset revision if many of your cases lack the appropriate follow-up information.
• The uploaded images must match the text and be from the same patient. Be sure to review each case and make sure the correct images are uploaded to the correct patient.

Case Log Submission Requirements and Guidelines

1. Number and Type of Cases
   • Submit case logs of 100 consecutive distinct patients.
   • Staged procedures or complication management/revision surgeries (e.g., "take-back" procedures) will be attributed to the original patient procedure.
   • All cases must be performed within an 18-month period.
   • Each case must have a minimum of 3 months of follow-up.
     • Follow-up may extend beyond the 18-month window.
2. Case Inclusions and Exclusions
   • Only include cases where the candidate was the neurosurgical decision-maker (i.e. primary surgeon or co-surgeon responsible for diagnosis, management, and billing).
   • Do not include:
     • Cases where the candidate only assisted another neurosurgeon.
     • Cases from residency or fellowship training
     • Stand-alone diagnostic angiograms (though these may be included as part of a larger case).
     • Minor procedures such as external ventricular drains, battery changes, spinal cord stimulator lead removals, etc.
3. Timeframe and Validity
   • No case should be older than 24 months at the time of submission.
4. Documentation Requirements
   • Submit all CPT codes that were billed with the candidate listed as the provider.
   • Include preoperative imaging that supports surgical decision-making.
   • Include postoperative imaging that demonstrates the procedure and outcome:
     • For spine cases, provide:
       • Axial and sagittal preoperative images for treated levels.
       • Postoperative images must include AP and lateral views of the construct.
       • Note: EOS films are not acceptable for evaluating spinal fusion postoperatively.
   • Keep in mind that your oral exam will be constructed from the cases that you submit. Therefore the preoperative and postoperative imaging will be critical for a meaningful exam.