Abstract:  Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of postoperative oral chemotherapy（OC） for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC）.Methods Sources such as MEDLINE and EMBASE were searched.All randomized trials comparing curative hepat-ic resection alone with hepatic resection plus OC  to treat HCC were identified.Risk ratios （RRs） and 95% confidence intervals （95% CIs） were calculated.Results Three randomized controlled trials involving 286 patients were included.For 1-，3-，and 5-year tumor re-currence rates，hepatic resection plus OC did not show significantly lower recurrence，with respective pooled risk ratios （RRs） of 0.92 （95% CI=0.26~1.35，P=0.66），0.82（95% CI=0.66~1.01，P=0.06），and 0.84（95% CI=0.71~1.01，P= 0.06）.Similarly，hepatic resection plus OC did not show significant differences in 1-，3-，or 5-year overall survival from resection alone（1-year survival，RR=1.43，95% CI=0.58~3.56，P=0.44；3-year survival，RR=1.39，95% CI=0.75~2.55，P=0.29；5-year survival，RR=1.20，95% CI=0.46~3.16，P=0.71）.Nausea，vomiting，diarrhea，abnormal liver function and leukocyte and/or platelet count decline were reported as side effects of OC，but these were well tolerated by most patients.No infections，autoimmune disorders or deaths related to treatment were reported.Conclu-sion Adjuvant OC appears to be ineffective for treating patients with HCC after hepatic resection，but definitive conclu-sions require further trials.

Key words: Hepatocellular carcinoma, Oral, Systemic chemotherapy, Meta-analysis