This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (Intervention). The objectives are as follows:

The primary objective of this review is to compare the potential harms of treatment for spinal metastatic disease for the following treatments:

1. Surgical intervention.

2. Surgical intervention with radiation therapy.

3. Radiation therapy alone.

Our secondary objectives are:

1. comparing the harms of different surgical methods;

2. comparing the harms between different radiation protocols.