ObjectiveTo observe the clinical effect of radial optic neurotomy (RON) for central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO).MethodsThe clinical data of 5 patients with CRVO who had undergone RON after a standard three-port vitrectomy were analyzed retrospectively. In the 5 patents, CRVO was diagnosed in 2 before the surgery, and the examination of visual acuity, fundus photography, fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA), color doppler imaging (CDI), and examination of perimeter and optic coherence tomography (OCT) were performed on them before and after the operations, respectively. Three patients underwent the operation because of the vitreous hemorrhage and CRVO was diagnosed during the surgery. All of the 5 patients suffered from severe macular edema. The results of post-operative visual acuities, fundus examination, fundus photography and OCT were compared with those of the pre-operative ones. The follow-up after the surgery was 12 months. ResultsThe visual acuities improved in 4 patients and decreased in 1. The results of fundus photography and (or) FFA, and OCT revealed that the macular edema was evidently alleviated 1 month after the surgery and the retinal hemorrhage was absorbed ultimately 2 months after the surgery. The result of examination of perimeter performed on 1 case showed the improvement of visual field. In addition, vitreous hemorrhage occurred in 1 patient postoperatively and hemorrhage occurred in 2 in the operation puncturing the optic disk.ConclusionsRON is helpful to ameliorate the macular edema, reduce the retinal hemorrhages, prevent the neovascularization and enhance the visual acuity to some extent, which maybe clinically feasible and valuable in treating CRVO，but more prospective, randomized, and multi-center researches are still needed to verify the efficacy.(Chin J Ocul Fundus Dis, 2005,21:6-9)