Clinical Outcomes Following Cervical Deformity Correction

This narrative review focuses on advances in clinical outcomes following adult cervical spinal deformity (CSD) surgery over the past decade. Progress is highlighted in 4 domains: radiographic alignment targets, preoperative risk stratification, surgical techniques, and long-term operative outcomes. The predominant trend across these advances has been towards a patient-specific approach for addressing cervical deformity. We anticipate that future progress will continue this patient-specific approach with refined preoperative optimization, patient-specific biomechanical modeling including digital twins with associated tailored instrumentation, and widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) to predict postoperative outcomes.