ObjectiveTo examine long-term survival, morbidity, and mortality following hepatic resection for gastric cancer hepatic metastases and to identify prognostic factors that affect survival. MethodsA systematic literature search of EMbase, PubMed, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library (Issue 2, 2015), CBM, WanFang Data, and CNKI was undertaken for studies that evaluated the role of hepatic resection for gastric cancer hepatic metastases. Two reviewers independently screened studies based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracted data, and evaluated risk of bias of included studies. RevMan 5.3 software was used for meta-analysis. ResultsThirty-nine studies were included, of which, eight studies were included in meta-analysis. The median sample size was 21 (range 10 to 64). Procedures were associated with a median 30-day morbidity of 24% (0% to 47%) and mortality of 0% (0% to 30%). The median 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year survival rates were 68%, 31%, and 27%, respectively. Meta-analysis result of 8 cohort studies showed hepatic resection of hepatic metastases was associated with a significantly improved overall survival at 1-year and 2-year follow-up (RR=0.47, 95%CI 0.3 to 0.58, P < 0.000 01; RR=0.70, 95%CI 0.63 to 0.79, P < 0.000 01). ConclusionsPatients with hepatic metastasis from gastric cancer may benefit from hepatic resection. More trials are needed to confirm this finding because of the limited included studies and their low quality.