Microvascular study of the retrolaminar optic nerve in man: the possible significance in anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy.

The morphology of the circle of Haller and Zinn and its variations were examined using methyl-methacrylate microvascular corrosion casting of human orbits obtained at post-mortem. It was found to be an elliptical microvascular anastomosis formed by branches of the medial and lateral para-optic short posterior ciliary arteries. The ellipse was divided into superior and inferior parts by the entry points of these branches into the eye, providing an altitudinal blood supply to the retrolaminar optic nerve. Morphological variations in terms of form, position and branches existed between subjects and between eyes from the same subject. The clinical implications of an elliptical 'circle' of Haller and Zinn providing an altitudinal blood supply to the retrolaminar optic nerve are relevant to the pathogenesis of altitudinal visual field defects in anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy.