Lastly, a metanalysis by Xiao et al. showed that a high preoperative NLR was significantly associated with a poor OS of HCC patients initially treated by TACE, as well as it was significantly correlated with the presence of vascular invasion, multiple tumors (satellite nodule) and high levels of serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) (≥400 ng/mL) [31]. Here, AFP is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.