AFP was a routinely monitored tumor marker in HCC patients; higher AFP may suggest more advanced tumor burden, more aggressive phenotype, and higher risk of residual tumors after surgery.[14,25] Preoperative AFP has been incorporated in several prognostic nomograms for HCC as either a categorical variable or after a logarithmic transformation.[19,34,35] In this study, the AFP level was incorporated as a continuous variable because of its wide range in this cohort and its positive correlation with poor survival. This evidence concerns the gene AFP and neoplasm.