Preoperative biliary drainage may increase the morbidity and mortality of pancreaticoduodenectomy. Studies on percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PTBD) before laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy (LPD), however, are scarce. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of PTBD on clinical outcomes of patients with malignant obstructive jaundice undergoing LPD. Clinical data of 172 patients who had malignant obstructive jaundice and underwent LPD from 2014 to 2017 in our hospital were retrospectively analyzed. Demographics, catheter-related complications, postoperative complications, and oncological outcomes were collected and analyzed. Propensity score matching was performed to minimize selection bias associated with the comparison of data between patients who underwent PTBD and then LPD (PTBD group), and those given LPD alone (LPD group). The results showed that, in the PTBD group relative to the LPD group, the operating time was significantly shortened (250.28 +/- 69.95 vs. 278.58 +/- 86.51 min, P=0.0196), the intraoperative blood loss was markedly reduced (271.96 +/- 403.47 vs. 429.72 +/- 482.47 mL, P=0.022), and overall rates of complications (16.33% vs. 36.49%, P=0.0025) including postoperative haemorrhage (2.04% vs. 12.16%, P=0.0072) and delayed gastric emptying (4.08% vs. 13.51%, P=0.0251) were greatly decreased. The propensity score-matched analysis, with 48 patients enrolled in each group, revealed no statistically significant differences in operating duration (262.71 +/- 68.64 vs. 280.25 +/- 83.52 min, P=0.264), intraoperative blood loss (290.21 +/- 407.71 vs. 373.75 +/- 422.33 mL, P=0.327) and delayed gastric emptying (4.17% vs. 12.50%, P=0.1396). PTBD group had lower incidences in overall complications (22.92% vs. 39.58%, P=0.0481) and postoperative haemorrhage (2.08% vs. 12.50%, P=0.0497) than LPD group. In conclusion, patients with malignant obstructive jaundice may benefit from PTBD procedure before LPD in terms of perioperative outcomes.