Objective To evaluate and compare the effects between traditional Chinese medicine（TCM） combined with chemotherapy treatment and chemotherapy treatment on the survival benefit of colorectal cancer patients

and to summarize the distribution pattern of syndromes. Methods The Chinese biomedical literature database

Chinese journal full-text database

Chinese scientific journal database were searched

with the search range from January 1 st

1996 to December 31 st

2016. Randomized controlled clinical trials（RCT） and clinical observations were included to compare the clinical efficacy of TCM combined with or without chemotherapy methods and chemotherapy method under the guidance of syndrome differentiation. The improved Jadad rating scale was used for quality assessment

and meta-analysis was performed on median survival time

disease control rate

and objective remission rate

and the distribution of TCM syndrome in included patients was counted. Results A total of 84 articles with 8147 cases were included in our study. The quality assessment of the included papers was 0-3 points. The results of metaanalysis showed that compared with only given chemotherapy treatment

the median overall survival time of patients received the TCM combined with chemotherapy treatment was 1. 35 times longer

and the disease control rate was enhanced by 110%. The objective remission rate was increased by 78%. The difference was statistically significant（P < 0. 01）. The top 5 frequency of patients’ syndromes were deficiency of spleen and kidney yang（1487）

spleen deficiency with dampness（1360）

phlegm stasis with accumulating toxin（639）

qi and blood deficiency（437）

liver depression and qi stagnation（301）. Conclusion Chinese medicine combined with chemotherapy could significantly improve the survival of colorectal cancer patients

and for patients with colorectal cancer

their TCM syndromes are mainly spleen deficiency

and most of which are accompanied with excess syndromes such as phlegm

dampness

heat

stasis and toxin.