Objective To systematic evaluate the efficacy and safety of the endovascular aortic repair (endovascular stent placement) and open operation in treatment of acute Stanford type B aortic dissection. Methods The literatures about clinical controlled trials of endovascular aortic repair and open operation in treatment of acute Stanford type B aortic dissection that were included in CNKI, Wanfang data, VIP, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials of the Cochrane Library, OVID, Pubmed Medline, EBSCO, EMBASE, Springer Link,Science Direct, and other databases from January 1991 to January 2013 were retrieved by computer. RevMan 5.1 software were used to analyze the clinical trial data. Results Eight trials (5 618 patients with acute Stanford type B aortic dissection) were included in the analysis.There was statistically significant difference of the 30 d mortality after operation between the endovascular repair group and the open operation group, which endovascular repair group was significantly better than the open operation group〔OR=0.55,95% CI (0.46-0.65), P<0.000 01〕. In addition, there were significant difference between the incidence of stroke 〔OR=0.57, 95% CI (0.39-0.84), P=0.005〕, respiratory failure 〔OR=0.64, 95% CI (0.53-0.78), P<0.000 01〕, and cardiac complications 〔OR=0.49,95% CI (0.38-0.64),P<0.000 01〕,which endovascular repair group was better than the open operation group. However,endovascular repair could not improve the postoperative outcomes of paraplegia〔OR=1.30,95% CI (0.82-2.05),P=0.26〕 and acute renal failure 〔OR=0.86,95% CI (0.41-1.80),P=0.69〕. Conclusion Endovascular repair for treatment acute Stanford type B aortic dissection is preferred method.