Objective To evaluate the effect of laparoscopy-assisted surgery for lymph node dissection in patients with carcinoma of gastric cardia. Methods The clinical data of patients with carcinoma of gastric cardia who underwent either laparoscopy-assisted or open gastrectomy between January 2004 and September 2009 in the Department of General Surgery, the Nanchong Central Hospital were analyzed retrospectively. The number of lymph node dissection was compared. Results Thirty-nine patients underwent laparoscopy-assisted gastrectomy (laparoscopy group) and 63 patients underwent open gastrectomy (open group). There was no significant difference in preoperative complications, type of pathology or pTNM stage between two groups (Pgt;0.05). The number of lymph node dissection was 16.44±6.25 in the laparoscopy group， of which the number of first station lymph node was 10.56±3.78 (metastasis rate was 74.4%), the second station was 3.82±1.82 (metastasis rate was 46.2%), the third station was 2.00±1.36 (metastasis rate was 5.1%); in the open group, the numbers of corresponding lymph node were 16.38±5.83, 10.94±3.91 (metastasis rate was 71.4%), 3.71±1.55 (metastasis rate was 42.9%), and 1.75±1.06 (metastasis rate was 3.2%), respectively. There was no significant difference between two groups (Pgt;0.05). Conclusion The effectiveness of lymph node dissection is satisfactory by laparoscopy-assisted surgery for patients with carcinoma of gastric cardia, but prospective efficacy is still being followed up.