Okamura Y, et al. - Using propensity score matching, researchers inquired the short- and long-term outcomes of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) surgery in elderly patients (≥75 years). Four hundred and twenty-one patients [elderly group(n = 111) and non-elderly (n = 310) group] who underwent hepatectomy as their initial treatment with curative intent comprised the study group. Before propensity matching, the elderly group had significantly more patients with a high American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status and was on antihypertensive drugs or an anticoagulant in higher proportion. These elderly patients displayed severe postoperative complications and significantly poorer overall survival rates than those noted for the non-elderly patients. On choosing and comparing 70 patients from each group for whom the preoperative confounding factors were balanced, the factors identified before matching (severe complications and overall survival rates) were no longer relevant, ie there were no significant differences between the two groups. This finding justifies hepatectomy for HCC in elderly patients.