The effect of renal denervation (RD) for resistant hypertension remains controversial because of the conflicting results of finished and ongoing studies. The authors performed a meta-analysis of case-control studies to identify whether renal sympathetic denervation or pharmacotherapy (PHAR) was more effective for resistant hypertension. A systematic Internet database search of relevant papers written in English was performed. A total of nine studies met the inclusion criteria, with a total of 1096 patients. When comparing the RD group with the PHAR group, there was a significant decrease in systolic blood pressure (SBP) (weighted mean difference, -12.81 mm Hg; 95% confidence interval [CI], -22.77 mm Hg to -2.85 mm Hg; P=.01) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (weighted mean difference, -5.56; 95% CI, -8.15 mm Hg to -2.97 mm Hg; P<.0001). This pooled analysis shows that for patients with resistant hypertension, RD is more effective in reducing SBP and DBP than PHAR. RD may be more effective in special subgroups of patients, which needs to be identified in future investigations. (C) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.