Spinal Cord Injury Centre, Balgrist University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland.
Department of Neurosurgery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.
Spinal Cord. 2021 Nov;59(11):1216-1218. doi: 10.1038/s41393-021-00711-8. Epub 2021 Oct 9.
Degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) is a common non-traumatic spinal cord disorder and characterized by progressive neurological impairment. Generally, it is still underdiagnosed and referral to spine specialists is often late, when patients already present with incomplete cervical spinal cord injury (SCI). To improve early diagnosis and accelerate referral, diagnostic criteria for DCM are required. Recently, AO Spine RECODE- DCM (REsearch Objectives and Common Data Elements for Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy) (aospine.org/recode), an international, interdisciplinary and interprofessional initiative, including patients with DCM, was funded with the aim to accelerate knowledge discovery that can change outcomes. In this perspective we advocate for the participation of SCI specialists in this process, where the expertise and perspective on this disorder and requirements for the diagnostic and therapeutic work up is well developed.
退变性颈脊髓病（DCM）是一种常见的非外伤性脊髓疾病，其特征为进行性神经功能障碍。一般来说，该病的诊断率仍然较低，患者往往在出现不完全性颈脊髓损伤（SCI）后才被转诊至脊柱专科医生处就诊。为了提高早期诊断率并加快转诊速度，需要制定 DCM 的诊断标准。最近，AO 脊柱退行性脊髓病研究目标和通用数据元素（AO Spine RECODE-DCM）[aospine.org/recode]这一国际跨学科和跨专业倡议获得资助，该倡议纳入了 DCM 患者，旨在加速知识发现，以改善患者结局。在这一视角下，我们提倡让 SCI 专家参与到这一过程中，因为他们对这一疾病具有专长和独特视角，也了解诊断和治疗评估的相关要求。
