The timing of surgery for spinal cord injury is also a matter of much debate. However, most authors agree that progressive nerve injury is an indication for emergency decompression surgery. In patients with complete spinal cord injury or resting incomplete spinal cord injury, some authors advocate delaying surgery for a few days to wait for spinal edema to resolve; others advocate early surgical fixation. There is no conclusive evidence in the literature that early surgical decompression and fixation promotes neurological recovery or that neurological recovery is compromised by delaying surgery by several days, and studies by Bohlman and Transfeldt et al. and others provide evidence that neurological recovery can also occur with anterior decompression surgery one year after spinal cord injury. We believe that open reduction and internal fixation should be performed as early as possible in patients with unstable spinal injuries with normal neurological function or in patients with nonprogressive neurological exacerbations. Zhao Weigang, Department of Orthopedics, Baicheng Hospital