ObjectiveTo systematically evaluate the effectiveness and safety of single-incision video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) versus conventional three-port VATS for primary spontaneous pneumothorax. MethodsWe searched databases including PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, CBM, CNKI and WanFang Data from inception to Dec. 2014, to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and cohort studies comparing single-incision VATS and conventional three-port VATS for primary spontaneous pneumothorax. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Then, RevMan 5.3 software was used for meta-analysis. ResultsA total of 8 cohort studies involving 483 patients were finally included. The results of meta-analysis showed that:Compared with conventional three-port VATS, single-incision VATS had shorter operation time (MD=-3.90, 95%CI -7.22 to -0.58, P=0.02), less amount of intraoperative bleeding (MD=-9.34, 95%CI -15.26 to -3.42, P=0.002), shorter chest drainage time (MD=-0.66, 95%CI -1.02 to -0.29, P=0.000 4), lower VAS score of 24h-postoperative pain (MD=-0.90, 95%CI -1.14 to -0.66, P<0.000 01) and lower incidence of postoperative paresthesia (OR=0.15, 95% CI 0.07 to 0.31, P<0.000 01). Meanwhile, there were no statistical differences between both groups in hospital stay (MD=-0.30, 95%CI -0.63 to 0.03, P=0.08) and the recurrence of pneumothorax (OR=0.68, 95%CI 0.25 to 1.83, P=0.53). ConclusionCurrent evidence shows, single-incision VATS is superior to conventional three-port VATS in the treatment of spontaneous pneumothorax. However, due to limited quality and quantity of included studies, more large-scale, high-quality studies are needed to verify the above conclusion.