Early recurrence was less often available for curative treatment at recurrence (p = 0.029) and it was more often associated with microvascular invasion of the initial tumor (p = 0.01), initial preoperative AFP > 200 ng/mL (p = 0.02), multinodular initial tumor (p = 0.017), satellite nodules (p = 0.05) and extrahepatic recurrence (p = 0.037) than late recurrence. Here, AFP is linked to neoplasm.