Abstract: Objective To evaluate the safety of simultaneous and staged resection for synchronous liver metastasis from colorectal cancer. Methods PubMed/Medline,ISI Web of Knowledge,Springer link,ebscohost,Elsevier Wiley Interscience,Google Scholar were searched for case-control studies concerning simultaneous versus staged resection of synchronous liver metastasis from colorectal cancer between January 1989 and March 2009.A meta-analysis sas performed to analyze the morbidity and periopemtive mortality. Results Seven case-control studies,with a total of 1 390 patients of liver metastasis from colorectal cancer undergone curative hepatic resection,were reviewed.There were 495 simultaneous and 895 staged resections.Periopemtive mortality was 1.1% in the staged resection group and 2.4% in the the simultaneous group,the difference was statistically significant[Peto OR 3.39,95% CI 1.29-8.93,P=0.01].No significant difference was found in morbidity between two groups [OR (random) 0.88,95% CI 0.51-1.51,P=0.64]. Conclusion Selective staged resection is safe for synchronous liver metastasis from colorectal cancer.