Ogawa E, Nakamuta M, Furusyo N, et al. - Better hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) recurrence stratification could be done by evaluating fibrosis and characteristics of the previous HCC and would be valuable for developing long-term surveillance strategies.

• The final analysis included data of 326 patients with chronic hepatitis C who required HCC treatment following sustained viral response (SVR) by DAA administration.

• Previous curative and palliative treatment groups had 5-year cumulative HCC recurrence rates of 45.4% and 65.7%, respectively.

• Along with the predictors of early recurrence [AFP > 7 ng/mL at 12 weeks after DAA administration, time from HCC complete response (CR) to DAA initiation (< 1 year), and the number of HCC treatments necessary to achieve CR (≥ 2)], following were independent predictors of late recurrence: cirrhosis, the number of HCC nodules (≥ 2), and previous palliative HCC treatment.