Objective   This study aimed to assess the efficacy of comprehensive laparoscopic surgical staging in early-stage ovarian cancer, and provide references for clinical practice and research.

  Methods   Electronic databases, such as Embase, Medline, Cochrane Library, CBM, and CNKI, were searched for studies on comprehensive laparoscopic surgical staging versus comprehensive laparotomic surgical staging. Other sources, such as related references, were also retrieved. The literature was screened according to inclusion criteria. Data were extracted from the selected references, and the quality of the included studies was assessed. This meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.2 software.

  Results   A total of 11 studies involving 591 cases were selected, of which 235 cases belonged to the laparoscopy group and 356 belonged to the laparotomy group. No statistically significant differences were observed between groups in age, body mass index, clinical stage, histological type, and histological grade. The laparoscopy group had less intraoperative blood loss, earlier general diet intake, less postoperative complications, and lower postoperative recurrence rate than the laparotomy group. No statistically significant difference was observed between groups in operation time, pelvic lymph node number (apart from pelvic and para-aortic lymph nodes), mortality.

  Conclusion   The results of this systematic review show that laparoscopic surgical staging of early-stage ovarian cancer demonstrated staging adequacy and accuracy that were similar to those of laparotomic surgical staging. Based on the principle of minimal invasion and radical treatment to tumor, laparoscopy showed more favorable operative outcomes than laparotomy.