Objective:To evaluate the efficacy and safety of early postoperative transcatheter arterial chemoembolization in preventing recurrence of primary liver cancer and improving patients’ survival. Methods:Medline(1966-October 2007),Embase(1974-October 2007),the Cochrane Library(Issue 4,2007),CBMdisc(1978-October 2007),CNKI(1979-October 2007),Wanfang Database were searched without language limitation. All randomized controlled trials comparing hepatectomy alone with hepatectomy and early postoperative transcatheter arterial chemoembolization for primary liver cancer were identified and screened by two reviewers,and the methodological quality of the included randomized controlled trials were evaluated by Jadad scale. The Cochrane Collaboration’s RevMan4.2 software was used for analysis of the data extracted from the included randomized controlled trials. Results:Nine randomized controlled trials involving 586 patients were included with 6 trials published in Chinese and 3 in English. Meta-analysis of data extracted from the included randomized controlled trials showed that liver resection combined with early postoperative transcatheter arterial chemoembolization could significantly reduce recurrence rates compared with hepatectomy alone ,with the corresponding relative risk(95%CI) of 0.38(0.23~0.62)-0.61(0.41~0.90)-0.63(0.50~0.80)-0.74(0.60~0.90) at 6 month,1,3,5 year respectively; Meanwhile,early postoperative transcatheter arterial chemoembolization could also significantly improve overall survival,with the corresponding relative risk(95%CI) of 1.27(1.15~1.40)-1.52(1.25~1.85)-1.60(1.27~2.02)-1.78(1.09~2.90) at 1,2,3,5 year respectively. Side effects and severe adverse events related with postoperative transcatheter arterial chemoembolization were reported in 3 randomized controlled trials,mainly of liver function impairment,fever and gastrointestinal symptoms,and no death case related to treatment was reported. Conclusions:Based on the results of this Meta-analysis,early postoperative transcatheter arterial chemoembolization could reduce recurrence of primary liver cancer and improve the patients’ survival,especially in those with high recurrence risk factors,including large tumor volume with liver cirrhosis and tumor thrombosis. However,the methodological methods of most randomized controlled trials were in low quality,so more randomized controlled trials with high quality are still needed to assess and verify the efficacy and safety further.