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BACKGROUND: Patients with cervical spinal cord injury will have serious complications in the early stage, of which respiratory complications are the most common. Therefore, respiratory tract management is particularly important for the rehabilitation of patients with cervical spinal cord injury. OBJECTIVE: To introduce the neuroanatomical and pathological features of cervical spinal cord injury, and to summarize the multiple treatments of respiratory complications in patients with cervical spinal cord injury and the application of fiberoptic bronchoscopy in patients with cervical spinal cord injury in recent years. METHODS: By inputting the key words of "cervical spinal cord injury, pulmonary infection, respiratory tract management, antibiotics, nerve transfer, tracheotomy, mechanical ventilation, fiberoptic bronchoscope, pneumonia" in Chinese and "cervical spinal cord injury, fibrobronchoscopy, bronchoalveolar lavage, tracheotomy, pneumonia" in English, we searched the CNKI, Wanfang, SinoMed, PubMed, and Web of Science for the related literature on the application of fiberoptic bronchoscopy in spinal cord injury in recent years. Through the preliminary screening of reading titles and abstracts, the articles with low relevance to the topic were excluded, and a total of 57 articles were included for review. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) At present, the treatment strategies of respiratory complications in patients with cervical spinal cord injury include supine position and use of abdominal band, respiratory training, mechanically assisted cough, mechanical ventilation, tracheotomy, diaphragm pacemaker, nerve transfer technique, fibrobronchoscopic sputum suction and bronchoalveolar lavage, and antibiotics use. (2) At present, the positive effects of early tracheotomy, non-invasive ventilation and auxiliary cough on patients with high spinal cord injury have been gradually recognized by the academic circles, which can improve the respiratory function of patients, while posture, respiratory training, and auxiliary cough have been widely used in clinical practice and achieved satisfactory results. (3) In recent years, bronchofiberscope suction and bronchoalveolar lavage have been widely used in the treatment of patients with pulmonary infection, and have a good therapeutic effect. For patients with cervical spinal cord injury with respiratory complications, fiberoptic bronchoscopy and bronchoalveolar lavage can also improve dyspnea and pulmonary function, which may become a new direction of diagnosis and treatment of cervical spinal cord injury patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]