Progress of diagnosis and treatment for degenerative cervical myelopathy / 国际外科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) is a kind of disease caused by cervical spinal cord compression and injury due to cervical degeneration. With the increasing of aging population in China, the incidence of DCM is also increasing year by year. The pathogenesis of DCM includes static degeneration and dynamic instability. The clinical manifestations of DCM are mainly symptoms and signs of cervical spinal cord dysfunction. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), especially some advanced quantitative microstructural MRI, plays an important role in the early diagnosis of DCM. Conservative treatment of DCM patients is often ineffective, and most patients need surgery to relieve nerve compression, and the surgical approach selection is still controversial. The long duration of symptoms, poor preoperative neurological status and advanced age were the main factors that caused the poor postoperative outcome. This article mainly reviews the recent research progress on the incidence, pathogenesis, diagnosis, evaluation and treatment of DCM.