ObjectiveTo compare the short- and long-term efficacy of artery-first approach pancreatico-duodenectomy (AF-PD) and standard approach pancreaticoduodenectomy (S-PD).MethodsThe PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CBM, WanFang, and CNKI databases were searched, relevant literatures were included, and relevant data were extracted for meta-analysis.ResultsA total of 30 articles were included, including 2 750 cases underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy. The results of meta-analysis showed that in terms of short-term efficacy when compared with S-PD group, the AF-PD group had less intraoperative blood loss (WMD=–175.87, P<0.001), lower intraoperative blood transfusion rate (OR=0.36, P=0.002), higher R0 resection rate (OR=1.83, P<0.001), lower postoperative pancreatic leakage rate (OR=0.71, P=0.005), and shorter postoperative hospital stay (WMD=–2.69, P=0.007). However, there were no statistically significant differences in the operation time and overall postoperative complication rate between the two groups (P>0.05). In terms of long-term efficacy when compared with S-PD group, the AF-PD group had lower tumor local recurrence rate (OR=0.43, P=0.004) and tumor liver metastasis rate (OR=0.60, P=0.010), but had higher 1-year (OR=1.95, P=0.007), 2-year (OR=2.04, P<0.001), 3-year (OR=2.09, P=0.001), and 5-year (OR=2.06, P=0.003) overall survival rates, and there were no significant differences in the rates of lung metastasis and peritoneal metastasis between the two groups (P>0.05).ConclusionsAF-PD is better than S-PD in some short-term and long-term outcome indicators such as R0 resection rate, pancreatic leakage rate, overall survival rate, and so on. However, due to the limited quality of the included literatures, more high-quality studies are still needed to verify in the future.