Surgeons now have a validated model to identify patients at high risk for early non-curative recurrence after liver resection for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), crucial for tailoring postoperative care.

• Early non-curative recurrence significantly increases overall survival risk (hazard ratio 5.39).
• Median survival drops from 178.6 months to just 34.7 months in early recurrence cases (p < 0.001).

Implementing this model can refine patient monitoring and improve long-term outcomes after HCC surgery.

• Key predictive factors include elevated alpha-fetoprotein, larger tumor size, multiple tumors, portal invasion, and serosal invasion.