However, there was no significant difference between the DAA-treatment group and no-HCV-treatment group in terms of any baseline characteristic, including diabetes mellitus, platelets, AST, ALT, total bilirubin, albumin, creatinine, AFP, Child–Pugh A/B, liver cirrhosis, number of tumors, maximum tumor size, histological grade and microvascular invasion. Here, ALB is linked to neoplasm.