Background: The current study sought to perform a meta-analysis to compare the preoperative staging of endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) and multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) in gastric carcinoma. Methods: Articles published between January 1, 2000, and April 1, 2016, that compared EUS with MDCT were included, and data were presented as 2 x 2 tables. The sensitivities, specificities and summary receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for T and N staging were calculated using a bivariate mixed effects model. Data were weighted by generic variance and then pooled by random-effects modeling. Results: Eight studies comprising 1736 patients were included in this meta-analysis. For T1 staging, the sensitivity value for EUS (82%) was significantly higher than that for MDCT (41%) (relative risk (RR): 2.06, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.07-3.94; P = 0.030). For lymph node involvement, the sensitivity value for EUS (91%) was also significantly higher than that for MDCT (77%) (RR 1.14, 95% CI 1.05-1.23; P = 0.001). However, the specificity values of both EUS and MDCT were quite low, at 49 and 63%, respectively. No significant differences in T2-4 staging between EUS and MDCT were noted. Conclusion: This meta-analysis indicates that EUS may be superior to MDCT in preoperative T1 and N staging. Additionally, the low specificity values of EUS and MDCT for N staging merits attention.