Although multiple predictors of survival were identified using univariate analysis (File S1), the important predictors for inferior overall, tumor-free and hepatitis-free survival included in the Cox regression model were as follows: hepatitis, preoperative AFP level ≥500 ng/ml, size of largest tumor >5 cm, number of tumor nodules >4, TNM stage IV, preoperative model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score of 31–40 and vascular invasion (Table 3). Here, AFP is linked to hepatitis A virus infection.