Truss core sandwich panels have been widely investigated due to their superior mechanical performances. However, local defects or damages during preparation and service may reduce the strength significantly. The objective of this paper is to examine the imperfection sensitive of this kind of structures under in-plane compression. The elastic and plastic buckling behaviour of pyramidal truss core sandwich panels with local damages under in-plane compression are studied experimentally and numerically. Local damages including unbound nodes between lattice truss and the facesheet, missing lattice cells and holes in the facesheet are considered. In-plane compression tests of truss core sandwich panels with prefabricated local damages are conducted, and then a finite element model in conjunction with random number is developed to simulate the buckling behaviour of the panel with randomly distributed damages in a specific region. Experimental and numerical results show that, besides the damage extent, the location of unbound nodes and missing lattice cells have significant effect on the buckling strength of the pyramidal truss core sandwich panel. In addition, the local damage sensitiveness of sandwich panel with round holes in the facesheet is lower than that with square holes. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd.