Objective and Background: The roles of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) co-infection (CI) in carcinogenesis of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remained controversial. To gain new insights into this issue, we investigated the postoperative prognostic value of HBVCI in HCV-associated HCC.Methods: A study cohort of 115 liver tissues obtained from the noncancerous parts of surgically removed HCV-associated HCCs were subjected to virological analysis in a tertiary care setting. were independently associated with unfavorable disease-free survival. Patients with occult HBVCI had a shorter disease-free (P = 0.002), a shorter overall survival (P = 0.026), a higher bilirubin level (P = 0.003) and a higher prevalence of precore G1896A mutation (P = 0.006) compared with those with overt HBVCI. Conclusion:Occult and overt HBVCI served as independent predictors for postoperative survival in HCV-associated HCC.