INDEX TERM AND DEFINITION
Imagine trying to diagnose, treat, research, or educate in a disease without a common name. Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy (DCM) goes by lots of different names – CSM, OPLL, cervical stenosis, compressive myelopathy, to name a few – and this confusion generates inefficiencies in research and discovery. As part of AO Spine RECODE-DCM it was agreed through consensus that the name “Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy” should be given to the disease going forward. This agreement will help streamline literature and internet searches, and it will allow cases to be reliably tracked in medical databases and clinical trials interpreted. A consistent term and definition can now support education and research initiatives. We will register this index term and definition in global disease registries [1].
Dr Mark Kotter Explains Why Settling on a Common Term Is So Important for Bringing Together Knowledge in DCM
Final Agreed Definition of DCM [1]
Acknowledgements
None of this would have been possible without the support of AO Spine. We wholeheartedly thank them for kickstarting this important initiative.