B. Background There are no established guidelines for the management of patients with CSM. It is estimated that up to 30 percent of patients have an unsatisfactory outcome after surgery for CSM. It remains uncertain how dorsal and ventral approaches differ in their success rates and in their complication rates. This study aims to test the hypothesis that ventral and dorsal surgical approaches differ in their outcomes or major complication rates. A secondary hypothesis is that fusion might improve outcome by reducing repetitive shear injury to the spinal cord.