AFP and hepatocellular carcinoma: Cheng et al reported that performance status (ECOG: 0) was an independent prognostic significant factor for 86 octogenarians with HCC initially treated with TACE.[23] In our present study, we also found that tumor size, tumor number, AFP level and TACE times were independent predictors of OS, this further confirms the effectiveness of the above risk factors in predicting the prognosis of patients.