Objective To evaluate the short-term clinical efficacy and safety of 10-Hydroxy-camptothecin （10- HCPT ） chemotherapy on gastrointestinal carcinoma. Methods We searched electronic database including CNKI （ 1995 - 2005 ）, MEDLINE （ 1995 - 2005 ） and The Cochrane Library （ Issue 1, 2005 ）. More related research data were odtained by cantacting with researchers. Randomized controlled trials of gastrointestinal carcinoma chemotherapy comparing only or including 10-HCPT chemotherapy with normal chemotherapy on efficacy rate, digestive and hematology system toxicity were included. Data related to the clinical outcome were extracted by two reviewers independently. Statistical analysis was performed by using RevMan4. 2.2. Results Twenty-five trials including 1 881 patients met the inclusion criteria. The results of meta-analysis were hsted as follows： 10-HCPT could significantly improve the short-term chemotherapy efficacy for colorectal cancer （ RR. 1.62, 95% CI 1.37 to 1.92） and gastric cancer （RR 1.48, 95% CI 1.18 to 1.85）in chemotherapy curative efficacy in short-term. 10-HCPT induced severe toxicity of lower digestive system（RR. 0.96,95% CI 0.62 to 1.50 ） without statistical significance, while severe toxicity of hematology system was significantly higher than that of control with RR 1.27,95% CI 1.02 to 1.58. Conclusions Current evidence suggests that 10-HCPT can improve hematology system short-term chemotherapy efficacy for gastrointestinal carcinoma and increase the incidence of severe toxicity. Further research is needed to value its influence on the prognosis of gastrointestinal carcinoma.