ObjectiveTo investigate the safety and feasibility of enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) in radical gastrectomy. MethodsThe Cochrane library, PubMed, EMBASE, and Chinese biomedical literature databases were searched to identify randomized controlled trails including patients undergoing radical gastrectomy surgery who were treated by ERAS or traditional methods.The five outcome variables were the time to passage of first flatus and first defecation, the length of postoperative hospital stay, medical cost, and postoperative complications. ResultsFifteen published reports involving 1 533 participants met the inclusion criteria.Compared with traditional methods, ERAS had better outcomes with shorter time to the passage of flatus (WMD=-26.557 hours, 95%CI:-34.097～-19.018, P < 0.05), shorter time to the passage of defecation (WMD=-34.071 hours, 95%CI:-53.449～-14.693, P < 0.05), shorter postoperative hospital stay (WMD=-2.824 days, 95%CI:-3.638～-2.010, P < 0.05), less medical cost (WMD=-0.342 ten thousand yuan, 95%CI:-0.501～-0.184, P < 0.05), and lower postoperative complication rate (RR=0.597, 95%CI: 0.435-0.820, P < 0.05).Especially, ERAS had a significant lower rate of postoperative digestive tract complications (RR=0.492, 95%CI: 0.350-0.693, P < 0.05).However, there were no significant differences between two methods in the incidence of complications including postoperative pulmonary infection, infection or liquefaction of incision, fistula of anastomosis, and postoperative readmission rate (P > 0.05). ConclusionsThe application of ERAS in the perioperated period of radical gastrectomy surgery shortens the time to passage of first flatus and first defecation, the postoperative hospital stay, as well as lowers the medical cost, and the postoperative complication rate.The results suggest that ERAS is safe and effective in perioperated period of radical gastrectomy and it is very promising in clinical application.