ALB and sarcopenia: Lastly, an Asian study following up 303 patients affected by HCC from different etiologies (of whom 35% sarcopenic) [57] for 5 years suggested that the combination of sarcopenia with a prognostic nutritional index called PNI (calculated from preoperative serum albumin concentration and peripheral blood whole lymphocyte count), could better predict the postoperative prognostic outcomes of HCC patients following hepatectomy than sarcopenia or PNI alone.