ObjectiveTo investigate the influence of semi-mechanical and hand-sewn esophagogastric anastomoses on postoperative anastomostic complications in patients undergoing esophagectomy. MethodsA systematic, computer-aided literature search was performed in PubMed, OVID, CNKI and BioMed databases for studies which were published from database establishment to December 2013. A manual literature search was also performed. We included randomized controlled trials (RCT)and observational studies which investigated the influence of semi-mechanical and conventional hand-sewn esophagogastric anastomoses on postoperative anastomostic complications. Quality assessment and data extraction were performed, and RevMan 5.2 was used for meta-analysis. ResultsTwelve relevant studies with 1 271 patients were included (3 RCTs and 9 observational studies).No significant heterogeneity among the 12 trials was found, so fixed effects model was used for meta-analysis.There was statistical difference in the incidence of postoperative anastomotic leak between hand-sewn and semi-mechanical esophagogastric anastomoses[RCT RR=0.34, 95%CI (0.12, 0.97), P < 0.05;observational studies OR=0.40, 95%CI (0.26, 0.62), P < 0.05]. Postoperative incidence of anastomostic stricture was reported in all 12 studies. There was statistical difference in the incidence of postoperative anastomotic stricture between hand-sewn and semi-mechanical esophagogastric anastomoses[RCT RR=0.14, 95%CI (0.04, 0.47), P < 0.05;observational studies OR=0.22, 95%CI (0.15, 0.34), P < 0.000 1]. ConclusionsCompared with conventional hand-sewn anastomosis, semi-mechanical esophagogastric anastomosis can significantly reduce the incidence of postoperative anastomostic leak and stricture. Due to limited quantity and quality of included studies, more high-quality studies with larger sample size including RCT and non-randomized studies are needed to confirm these findings.