ObjectiveTo systematically evaluate the effectiveness of arthroscopic debridement versus non-operative treatment for degenerative meniscal tear. MethodsDatabases including PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library (Issue 7, 2015), WanFang Data, CBM, and CNKI were searched to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about arthroscopic debridement versus non-operative treatment for degenerative meniscal tear from inception to July 2015. The meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan 5.3 software. ResultsA total of nine RCTs involving 1 023 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that:there were no significant differences between two groups at different follow-up time points in knee scoring scale (less than 6 months:SMD=0.12, 95%CI -0.11 to 0.35, P=0.30; 1 year:SMD=-0.03, 95%CI -0.18 to 0.11, P=0.65; 2 years:SMD=-0.07, 95%CI -0.32 to 0.19, P=0.61) and pain score (less than 6 months:MD=0.30, 95%CI -0.10 to 0.70, P=0.14; 1 year:MD=0.10, 95%CI -0.40 to 0.60, P=0.70; 2 years:MD=0.02, 95%CI -0.52 to 0.92, P=0.90). ConclusionCurrent evidence suggests that arthroscopic debridement hasn't better effective than non-operative treatment for degenerative meniscal tear, however, due to the limited quantity of the included studies, the above conclusion still need more high quality research to be verified.