Objective To summarize the function and research status of visceral fat (VF) removal. Methods The related literatures were reviewed. Results Increased VF can result in insulin resistance (IR), excessive adipocytokines and in?ammatory cytokines secretion, and glucolipid metabolism disorders, and is the key factor of type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic syndrome and other metabolic complications. Obesity and visceral fat, both can increase the incidence of malignant tumor, shorten the disease-free and overall survival, increase the risk of recurrence and death. The relationship between visceral fat and malignant tumor is also related with insulin resistance, excessive adipocytokines and inflammatory cytokines secretion, and systemic chronic inflammatory response status, which all induced by the VF. So the VF became the target of the treatments and preventions of these diseases and surgical removal of part of VF directly is one way of them. In most of animal experiments, surgical removal of part of VF directly has been shown to improve IR, increase insulin sensitivity, glucolipid metabolism, reduce adipocytokines and inflammatory cytokines secretion and prevent tumorigenesis. But in human, due to the limitation of anatomical and medical ethics, only great omentum can be removed in similar experiments, and most of the studies have not found similar positive roles. Conclusions Many animal experiments have confrmed that visceral fat resection can improve glucolipid metabolism and prevent tumorigenesis, but in clinical trials, the omentectomy, found no similar changes, which may be associated with insuffcient excised fat mass, the specifc reason need further study.