Liao M, et al. - In this retrospective analysis of 229 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients undergoing surgical resection, researchers assessed the link between the preoperative high-sensitivity C-reactive protein to lymphocyte ratio (HCLR) and the clinicopathologic features of HCC. Using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, they determined the cutoff value of HCLR. They also used the Kaplan–Meier method to assess the overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival rates (PFS). With a sensitivity of 75.5% and a specificity of 71.8%, 1.3 was decided as the cutoff value of HCLR for the best discrimination of HCC prognosis. A positive correlation of preoperative HCLR at a high level (>1.3) with large tumor size, TNM stage, microvascular invasion, and recurrence was observed. Significantly shorter mean OS and PFS were seen in patients with HCLR >1.3 vs those with HCLR ≤1.3. Overall, they concluded that, in HCC patients, HCLR was important not only as an independent predictor of poor prognosis, but also could be used as a sensitive gauge for the dynamic monitoring of postoperative patients.