Objective: To systematically evaluate the safety and degree of lymph node dissection of laparoscopic total gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer. Methods: The randomized controlled trials or retrospective studies comparing laparoscopic total gastrectomy and open total gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer were collected by searching several national and international databases. Data collection ended in May 2013. After screening for inclusion, data extraction, and quality assessment, Meta-analysis was performed by the RevMan 5.2 software. Results: Six studies were finally selected involving 1 115 patients, of whom 547 underwent laparoscopic surgery and 568 cases were subjected to open surgery. Results of the Meta-analysis showed that laparoscopic total gastrectomy versus open surgery for advanced gastric cancer reduced the incidence of complications, intraoperative blood loss and length of hospital stay; but prolonged the operative time (all P<0.05), and however, made no statistical difference in number of dissected lymph nodes (P>0.05). Conclusion: Compared with open surgery, laparoscopic total gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer is superior in minimal invasion and safety, and can achieve a similar lymph node dissection effect.