“…The choice of treatment in patients with spinal metastases should be based upon a combination of clinical findings, the duration of symptoms, and radiological evaluation of epidural space invasion using reproducible parameters. In the literature, the term occult (subclinical) MSCC is used to describe a discrepancy between radiographic findings and neurological status (7,19). Whereas some studies include any degree of epidural space invasion in the definition of occult MSCC (7,19), others use separate terms for thecal impingement and compression of the spinal cord or cauda equina (17).…”