ObjectivesTo systematically review the efficacy and safety of plasminogen activator assist external ventricular drainage in cerebral hemorrhage.MethodsPubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, CNKI, VIP, CBM and WanFang Data databases were electronically searched to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the efficacy and safety of plasminogen activator assist external ventricular drainage in cerebral hemorrhage from inception to March 2019. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies, then, meta-analysis was performed by using RevMan 5.3 software.ResultsA total of 23 RCTs involving 1 560 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that, compared with the blank control or placebo, the addition of plasminogen activator urokinase after puncture and drainage could improve the clinical efficacy (RR=1.36, 95%CI 1.26 to 1.47, P<0.000 01), shorten removal time of hematoma (MD=−3.37, 95%CI −3.89 to −2.85, P<0.000 01), reduce postoperative re-bleeding rate (Peto OR=0.30, 95%CI 0.18 to 0.51, P<0.000 01), reduce the incidence of intracranial infection (Peto OR=0.47, 95%CI 0.25 to 0.87, P=0.02), and reduce mortality (Peto OR=0.45, 95%CI 0.27 to 0.76, P=0.003). The differences were statistically significant between two groups.ConclusionsCurrent evidence shows that the combination with urokinase can improve curative effect of hypertension cerebral hemorrhage patients with external ventricular drainage. In reducing hemorrhage, intracranial infection and mortality, urokinase also has great curative effect. Due to limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more high quality studies are required to verify above conclusions.