Abstract:【Objective】 To compare the safety, efficacy and clinical expense of the endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) with surgical operation in the treatment of early gastrointestinal cancer. 【Methods】 The Cochrane library, Pumed, Embase, Wanfang, VIP and CNKI in Chinese and English from January 1990 to April 2013 were searched to compare ESD with surgical operation for gastrointestinal cancer. The literatures were selected by the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The statistical analysis were carried out using RevMan 5.2 software. 【Results】 One randomized controlled study and seven nonrandomized retrospective cohort studies (total 2136 participants,seven full-text and one abstracts) were included . Meta-analysis showed that there was no statistically significant differences in curative resection rate (593/636, 93.2% vs 270/290, 93.1%, P =0.89), recurrence rates (3/304, 0.98% vs 8/219, 3.65%, P =0.05),operation time (61~131 min vs 100~265 min, P =0.23) and hospitalization costs (16507~22932 RMB vs 33902~57994 RMB, P =0.12) between ESD and surgery. Surgery had higher en bloc resection rate than ESD (353/353, 100% vs 299/340, 87.9%, P =0.001). However, it had significant higher complication (142/809, 17.6% vs 80/1267, 6.3%, P <0.001) and longer hospitalization time (2.5~13.0 d vs 4.0~18.9 d, P =0.001). 【Conclusion】 ESD and surgical operation have basically equivalent efficacy for the treatment of early gastrointestinal tumors. However, ESD should be the first choice because of its fewer complications, shorter hospitalization time and faster recovery period .