ObjectiveTo systematically review the efficacy and safety of recombinant human TSH (rhTSH) in radioiodine therapy for benign thyroid goiter. MethodsWe electronically searched MEDLINE, EBSCO, The Cochrane Library (Issue 6, 2015) and CNKI databases from January 1990 to March 2015, to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about rhTSH in radioiodine therapy of benign thyroid goiter. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and evaluated the risk of bias of included studies, and then meta-analysis was performed by using RevMan 5.3 software. ResultsA total of 6 RCTs were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that: compared with the control group, the thyroid volume was significantly reduced at 1 year after radiation in the rhTSH group (MD=0.14, 95%CI 0.05 to 0.23, P=0.002). There were no significant differences in FT4, FT3 and the percentage of patients who had thyroid antibody between two groups before and after radiation. In addition, rhTSH did not significantly increase the incidence of hyperthyroidism and neck pain. ConclusionrhTSH is effective and safe in radioiodine therapy of benign thyroid goiter. Due to the limitation of quality and quantity of the included studies, more high quality studies are needed to verify the above conclusion.