Objective: To compare the efficacy between percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and conservative medication treatment in chronic total occlusions (CTO) patients. Methods: It was a meta-analysis.Articles on drug therapy and PCI for complete coronary artery occlusion were retrieved from Pubmed, Embase and Web of Science databases. The search time was from the database construction to May 10, 2020, and the following search criteria were used for the search "chronic total occlusion" "percutaneous coronary intervention" and "medical therapy". References from searched literatures were also searched to identify more eligible studies. Randomized controlled trials (RCT) and cohort studies comparing efficacy of PCI versus oral medication as well as medication as initial therapy option for CTO patients with single or multiple lesions were included. The primary endpoints included all-cause death, cardiac death, recurrent myocardial infarction, re-revascularization, major adverse cardiac events (MACE) and stroke. Data were analyzed with ReviewManager5.3.0 software. Pooled effect size RR and 95%CI were calculated by randomization effect model. Heterogeneity was evaluated by I2. Bege test was used to evaluate publication bias. Subgroup analyses were performed for RCT and cohort studies. Results: A total of 1 079 articles were retrieved and 16 studies (RCT=4, cohort study=12) were included with 12 223 patients. Fourteen publications (RCT=4, cohort study=10) reported all-cause death post PCI and/or drug therapy. Results showed that risk of all-cause death was significantly lower in PCI group than in drug therapy group (RR=0.45,95%CI 0.39-0.53,P<0.001);subgroup analysis showed that risk of all-cause death was significantly lower in PCI group than in drug therapy group from cohort studies (RR=0.44,95%CI 0.38-0.52,P<0.001),but comparable in RCT (P=0.27). Thirteen studies (RCT=3, cohort study=10) reported cardiac death post PCI and/or drug therapy. Results showed that risk of cardiac death was significantly lower in PCI group than in drug therapy group (RR=0.44,95%CI 0.35-0.55,P<0.001);subgroup analysis showed that risk of cardiac death was significantly lower in PCI group than in drug therapy group in cohort studies (RR=0.43,95%CI 0.34-0.54,P<0.001),but not in RCT (P=0.25). Fourteen publications (RCT=4, cohort study=10) reported recurrent myocardial infarction post PCI and/or drug therapy. Results showed that risk of recurrent myocardial infarction was significantly lower in PCI group than in drug therapy group (RR=0.62,95%CI 0.44-0.88,P=0.007);subgroup analysis showed that risk of recurrent myocardial infarction was significantly lower in PCI group than in drug therapy group from cohort studies (RR=0.56,95%CI 0.40-0.78,P=0.000 5),but comparable in RCT (P=0.17). Fourteen publications (RCT=4, cohort study=10) reported re-revascularization post PCI and/or drug therapy. Results showed that risk of re-revascularization was comparable between PCI group and drug therapy group (P=0.91);subgroup analysis showed that risk of re-revascularization was comparable between PCI group and drug therapy group both in cohort study and RCT (P=0.60 and 0.41, respectively). Eleven publications (RCT=3, cohort study=8) reported MACE post PCI and/or drug therapy. Results showed that risk of MACE was significantly lower in PCI group than in drug therapy group (RR=0.74,95%CI 0.59-0.93,P=0.03);subgroup analysis showed that risk of MACE was significantly lower in PCI group than in drug therapy group in cohort studies (RR=0.72,95%CI 0.56-0.93,P=0.01), but not in RCT (P=0.8). Six publications (RCT=2, cohort study=4) reported stroke post PCI and/or drug therapy. Results showed that risk of stroke was comparable between PCI and drug therapy groups (RR=0.62,95%CI 0.32-1.20, P=0.15);subgroup analysis showed that risk of stroke was comparable between PCI and drug therapy groups both in cohort studies and RCT (P=0.48 and 0.32, respectively). Conclusion: Compared with oral drug therapy, PCI may have better efficacy for CTO patients based on results from this cohort study.