ObjectiveTo systematically review the efficacy and safety of laparoscopic pyeloplasty (LP) versus open pyeloplasty (OP) for patients with ureterpelvic junction obstruction (UPJO). MethodsWe electronically searched databases including PubMed, The Cochrane Library (Issue 11, 2015), Sciverse, VIP, WanFang Data and CNKI from inception to Dec., 2015, to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and non-randomized clinical controlled trials (CCTs) about LP versus OP for UPJO patients. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Then, meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software. ResultsA total of 38 studies including 8 RCTs and 30 CCTs were included. The results of meta-analysis based on RCTs showed that, there were no significant differences in successful operation rate (OR=0.50, 95%CI 0.20 to 1.24, P=0.13) and the incidence of postoperative complications (OR=1.19, 95%CI 0.61 to 2.31, P=0.62) between the OP group and the LP group; The operation time of the OP group was shorter than that of the LP group (MD=62.07, 95%CI 3.94 to 120.19, P=0.04), but this difference was not found in subgroup analysis of retroperitoneal approach (MD=49.99, 95%CI -23.69 to 123.67, P=0.18); The hospital stay of the LP group was shorter than that of the OP group (MD=-3.96, 95%CI -4.92 to -2.99, P<0.0001). The results of meta-analysis based on CCTs showed that, there was no significant difference in successful operation rate between two groups (OR=1.34, 95%CI 0.84 to 2.16, P=0.22), and similar results were found in subgroup analysis of transperitoneal or retroperitoneal approaches; The incidence of postoperative complications of the LP group was shorter than that of the OP group (OR=0.51, 95%CI 0.37 to 0.69, P<0.0001); The hospital stay of the LP group was shorter than that of the OP group (MD=-3.87, 95%CI -4.90 to -2.83, P<0.00001) and similar result was found in subgroup analysis of transperitoneal approach (MD=-4.08, 95%CI -5.21 to -2.95, P<0.0001); There was no significant difference between two groups in operation time (MD=24.15, 95%CI -7.56 to 55.87, P=0.14). ConclusionCurrent evidence shows that, the successful operation rate between LP and OP operations is similar, but the LP operation has less incidence of postoperative complication and shorter hospital stay. Due to limited quality of the included studies, the above conclusion needs more high quality studies to verify.