Objective:To evaluate the availability and safety of videoassisted thyroidectomy (VAT) for treating thyroid diseases (benign thyroid nodular diseases and “low risk” thyroid cancer). Methods:The electronic databases such as MEDLINE,EMBASE,PubMed,Cochrane Library,CBM，CNKI were searched;we handsearched some relevant Chinese periodicals.The quality of included trials was evaluated by two estimators.Metaanalysis in the homogenous studies was made.RevMan 4.2.8 software was used for statistical analysis. Results:Four randomized controlled trials (164 patients) undergoing videoassisted versus conventional thyroidectomy (CT) were included.The results of metaanalysis indicated that statistically significant differences were observed between the two operative procedures in cosmetic result［WMD105，95%CI（0.47,1.62）］;postoperative pain ［WMD-8.20,95%CI(-11.60,-4.80)］；operative time［WMD18.96,95%CI(17.23,20.69)］.The only no statistical significance was observed in complication rate［RR190,95%CI(0.65,5.54)］. Conclusion:Cosmetic result and postoperative pain in VAT are superior to that in CT.Operative time is longer in VAT than in CT.No significant differences are found between the two procedures in complication rate.There is insufficient evidence to demonstrate that VAT is also feasible for malignant thyroid diseases.More high quality,multicenter largescale randomized controlled trials are required.