The field of spinal oncology has substantially evolved over the past decades. This review synthesizes and appraises what was learned and what will potentially be discovered from the recently completed and ongoing clinical studies related to the treatment of primary and secondary
spinal neoplasms. This scoping review included all clinical studies on the treatment of
spinal neoplasms registered in the ClinicalTrials.gov website from February 2000 to December 2020. The terms "
spinal cord tumor," "spinal
metastasis," and "metastatic
spinal cord compression" were used. Of the 174 registered clinical studies on primary spinal
tumors and spinal
metastasis, most of the clinical studies registered in this American registry were interventional studies led by single institutions in North America (n = 101), Europe (n = 43), Asia (n = 24), or other continents (n = 6). The registered clinical studies mainly focused on treatment strategies for
spinal neoplasms (90.2%) that included investigating stereotactic radiosurgery (n = 33),
radiotherapy (n = 21),
chemotherapy (n = 20), and surgical technique (n = 11). Of the 69 completed studies, the results from 44 studies were published in the literature. In conclusion, this review highlights the key features of the 174 clinical studies on
spinal neoplasms that were registered from 2000 to 2020. Clinical trials were heavily skewed toward the metastatic population as opposed to the primary
tumors which likely reflects the rarity of the latter condition and associated challenges in undertaking prospective clinical studies in this population. This review serves to emphasize the need for a focused approach to enhancing translational research in
spinal neoplasms with a particular emphasis on primary
tumors.