ALB and hepatocellular carcinoma: In the study by Calvaruso et al., carried out in patients with cirrhosis, those who had a baseline serum albumin < 3.5 g/dL and a platelet count < 120,000/μL (the two variables found as predictors in their multivariate analysis) had an annual incidence of HCC of 5.6% versus only 0.8% in those who had pre-treatment serum albumin and platelet count above the mentioned cut-off values [39].