Future Directions Related to Spinal Cord Compression: Where Will we be in the Next 10 Years?

Spinal cord compression disorders, including traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) and nontraumatic SCI syndromes, such as degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM), remain major causes of long-term neurologic disability. Recent advances have established early surgical decompression as a cornerstone of acute SCI management, while emerging strategies focus on improving decompression quality, refining diagnostic phenotyping in DCM, and advancing neuroprotective, neuromodulatory, and regenerative therapies. Over the next decade, integration of precision imaging, artificial intelligence based assessment, circuit-level neuromodulation, and biologically informed stem cell-based interventions are expected to shift care toward personalized treatment paradigms that improve neurologic and functional outcomes.