PATHOLOGIC EVALUATION OF RADIAL OPTIC NEUROTOMY IN AN ANIMAL MODEL

摘要

Radial optic neurotomy was recently introduced as surgical therapy for central retinal vein occlusion. This initial pilot study included 11 consecutive patients, 73% of whom had a significant improvement in vision. The investigators hypothesized that the anatomy of the optic nerve head may contribute to the pathogenesis of central retinal vein occlusion. A "scleral outlet compartment syndrome" may cause neurovascular compression in the region of the lamina cribrosa of the optic nerve. The researchers thought that an incision into the lamina cribrosa and the scleral ring surrounding the optic nerve may decompress this compartmental pressure and allow restoration of blood flow. Others have challenged this argument.2 To our knowledge, no animal studies have been performed to evaluate the effect of RON. The pig retina as well as optic nerve has features that make it a potentially good model to study RON. We performed RON on two eyes of two pigs to study the immediate histologic effects of this procedure.