Prophylactic liver transplantation for high-risk recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma

Table 2 Prognostic factors of early hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence after liver resection and after liver transplantation

Risk factor of HCC recurrence	After liver resection	After liver transplantation
Serological
AFP	> 400 ng/mL[49]	> 1000 ng/mL[34,35]
Tumor gross
Tumor size	> 3 cm[30] or > 5 cm[37,41,65]	> 6 cm[35]
Tumor number	> 3[65]	≥ 4[35]
Satellite nodules	Yes[30,63,66]	Yes[33]
Tumor microscopic
Tumor differentiation	Intermediate, or poor differentiation, or undifferentiation[30,49,65]	Poor differentiation, or undifferentiation[33]
Microvascular invasion	Yes[30,37,41,49,64-66]	Yes[33,34]
Liver parenchyma
Severity of cirrhosis	Controversial[67-69]	No
Milan criteria	Yes[68] (predict recurrence within/beyond MC)	Yes[3]

HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; AFP: Alpha-fetoprotein; MC: Milan criteria.