H epatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the sixth leading type of cancer and the second most fatal tumor worldwide (1). For patients with early stage HCC as defined by the Milan criteria (solitary nodule 5 cm or as many as three nodules 3 cm, without macrovascular invasion and extrahepatic spread), both liver resection and liver transplant are the mainstay curative options (1,2). Although liver transplant offers definite advantages of extirpating both the tumor and the diseased liver, demand for organs far exceeds supply. Therefore, liver resection is accepted as the first-line treatment option for patients with early stage HCC and preserved liver function, whereas liver transplant is the recommended treatment for patients with decompensated cirrhosis (3). Unfortunately, HCC recurrence, including true recurrence by means of tumor dissemination and development of de novo tumors in the cirrhotic liver, occurs in 50%-60% of these patients at 5 years (4,5).Currently, HCC staging systems (eg, Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer, Hong Kong Liver Cancer, Cancer of the Liver Italian Program, and TNM systems) occupy the central role in prognosis and therefore treatment allocation (1). Accurate risk prediction allows optimal surveillance, prevention, and management strategies for tumor recurrence; however, these systems are inadequate for predicting recurrence, and none of them provide quantifiable risk measures. Recently, a few statistical models, such as the Korean model ( 6) and pre-and postoperative Early Recurrence After Surgery for Liver Tumor (ERASL) models ( 7), have been established specifically to predict HCC

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