AFP and metastatic malignant neoplasm in the lymph nodes: Our study also suggests that excellent survival can be achieved in HCC patients with CLIP3 and T2 who meet our proposed criteria: solitary tumor ≤7.5 cm, ≤4 multifocal nodules with the largest lesion ≤5 cm and a total tumor diameter ≤10 cm or multiple nodules with the largest lesion ≤3 cm, and a pre-LT serum AFP level <1000 ng/ml and a AST level <120 IU/L without vascular invasion of the major portal vein branches or lymph node metastasis.