Among BCLC stage D patients, the mean age was younger, the BMI was higher, the proportion of patients with Child-Pugh class A was higher, the proportion of patients with AFP< 20ng/ml was higher, the proportion of HCCs diagnosed by pathology and with TNM stage 1 was higher, the creatinine and bilirubin levels were lower, the proportion of patients with tumor size > 5.0 cm was lower and the follow-up period was longer in the upward treatment stage migration group than in the patients treated according to the BCLC guideline recommendations. Here, AFP is linked to neoplasm.