To evaluate the efficacy and safety of compound anisodine (CA) injection for anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (AION).

Studies, which were randomized controlled trials (RCT) of CA with routine treatment for AION from PubMed, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CNKI, Wanfang database, Chinese science and technology journals full-text database and CD-ROM database of Chinese Biology Medical disc published from January 1978 to June 2021 were searched.Included studies were screened by two researchers independently based on inclusion and exclusion criteria.After data collection and quality assessment, a meta-analysis of included studies was performed with Revman 5.3 software.

Thirteen RCT were included, involving 1 636 eyes, with 829 eyes in treatment group and 807 eyes in control group without CA treatment.It was found that the total effective rate of treatment group was higher than that of control group (OR=3.25, 95% CI: 2.47-4.28, P<0.01), and the best corrected visual acuity of AION patients after CA treatment was significantly better than that of control group when articles with high heterogeneity were excluded (MD=0.14, 95% CI: 0.11-0.17, P<0.01) or not (MD=0.14, 95% CI: 0.12-0.16, P<0.01).The mean defect of visual field was significantly smaller and the mean sensitivity of visual field was higher in treatment group than control group (MD=-2.58, 95% CI: -3.98--1.19, P<0.01; MD=3.49, 95% CI: 3.07-3.91, P<0.01).

CA shows good efficacy in the treatment of AION.It can improve visual acuity and mean sensitivity of visual field, decrease mean defect of visual field.

Optic neuropathy, ischemic; Compound anisodine; Treatment outcome; Systematic review; Meta-analysis