OBJECTIVE: To investigate the efficacy and factors affecting the treatment of spinal cord-type cervical spondylosis by posterior cervical canal enlargement with short segmental fixation. METHODS: Twenty-one patients who underwent posterior cervical single-opening canal enlargement with cervical lateral block nail bar system fixation and fusion for spinal cord-type cervical spondylolisthesis from August 2006 to June 2008. Multiple stepwise regression analysis was performed to analyze the correlation between the age, disease duration, preoperative spinal canal sagittal diameter value, bony canal enlargement rate, spinal cord posterior displacement distance, preoperative JOA score and the improvement rate of JOA. Results: The preoperative JOA score and disease duration were clearly correlated with the improvement rate of JOA, which was significant. The disease duration was significantly negatively correlated with the JOA improvement rate, and the preoperative JOA score was significantly positively correlated with the JOA improvement rate. CONCLUSION: Posterior cervical single-opening spinal canal enlargement and fusion with cervical lateral block nail rod system fixation is an effective method for the treatment of spinal cervical spondylosis; preoperative JOA score and disease duration are important factors in determining the prognosis of spinal cervical spondylosis and are important indicators for judging the prognosis of spinal cervical spondylosis, and the preoperative JOA score plays a stronger guiding role compared with the two.