Letter to the editor “A preoperative model for predicting early recurrence in patients undergoing resection for single hepatocellular carcinoma”

We have read with considerable interest the article by Dr. Liu et al. "A preoperative model for predicting early recurrence in patients undergoing resection for single hepatocellular carcinoma" [ [1] Liu Y.W. Moi S.H. Li W.F. Lin C.C. Yong C.C. Wang C.C. et al. A preoperative model for predicting early recurrence in patients undergoing resection for single hepatocellular carcinoma. Eur J Surg Oncol. 2023; 49: 1444-1449 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus (2) Google Scholar ]. This study developed a preoperative model, which included four parameters of serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level, tumor size, Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score and cirrhosis, to predict early recurrence in patients undergoing liver resection (LR) for solitary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We congratulate the authors for this original study, which provides useful information for clinical decision-making and allows patients with high risk of early recurrence to be effectively identified before LR. Although this is a pioneer study, we would like to put forward the following comments.