To evaluate the clinical efficacy of incising spinal pia mater to relieve pressure and unilateral open-door laminoplasty with internal screw fixation for treatment of the dated spinal cord injury. Methods From March

2009 to July

2010

16 cases with chronic cervical cord injury underwent spinal dura mater incision and unilateral open-door laminoplasty with internal screw fixation.Nerve functions of pre- and postoperation were evaluated by Frankel classification and the Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) scale.The improvement rate of JOA score at the indicated time was recorded. Results Postoperative Frankel classification rating of 16 patients improved obviously.JOA scores at the 1st month

3rd month

6th month

and 12th month after surgery were 7.9±2.3

8.5±1.6

8.9±2.1

and 12.4±2.5

respectively

and significantly increased compared with that prior to surgery (5.5±0.6).At the end of follow-up period

JOA score was significantly higher than that of pre-treatment (P<0.05).The recovery was relatively rapid during the first 3 months following the surgery

then entered a platform period. Conclusion It is effective for patients with dated spinal cord injury to undergo spinal decompression and laminoplasty.