Objective To provide practical anatomic data for the imaging diagnosis of the optic pathways. Methods Sectional anatomy of the optic pathways on the coronal plane was investigated on 26 sets of serial coronal sections on the heads of Chinese adult cadavers and 6 sets of serial coronal MRI of normal adults. Results On the coronal plane，we recognized the special structures of the optic pathways on 5 key sections：1. The midorbital optic nerve was located superomedially in the center of the adipose body of the orbit，which was surrounded by the subarachnoid space and the sheath of the optic nerve; 2. The chiasm was transverse between the optic and infundibular recesses of the portion of the floor of the third ventricle and it lay below to the A1 segment of the anterior cerebral artery and above the tuber cinereum and the pituitary stalk，with C2 or C3 segment of the internal carotid artery being laterally; 3. The optic tract was between the crus cerebri and the amygdaloid，with the tail of caudate nucleus being laterally，the anterior choroidea artery inferiorly and downward M2 segment of the middle cerebral artery lying between the uncus and the crus cerebri; 4. The lateral geniculate body was between the crus cerebri medially and the tail of the caudate nucleus (laterally)，and the uncus and P2 segment of posterior cerebral artery (inferiorly); and 5. The optic radiation formed the lateral wall of the lateral ventricle both in the temporal corn and in the occipital corn. The optic radiation was separated from the wall of the occipital horn by the tapetum，a thin layer of fibers derived from the splenium of corpus callosum. Coronal sectional anatomy and MRI images of the optic pathways revealed the similar result. Conclusion It is important for