The combination of the preoperative albumin-bilirubin grade and the fibrosis-4 index predicts the prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma after liver resection.

There is little information regarding the use of a combination of the albumin-bilirubin (ALBI) grade and the fibrosis-4 index (FIB-4) in predicting hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patient outcomes after liver resection. In this study, we aimed to analyze the predictive ability of a combination of the ALBI grade and the FIB-4 score (ALBI-FIB-4) for HCC patients within the Milan criteria after liver resection. The data of HCC patients within the Milan criteria who underwent liver resection between 2011 and 2019 at our center were reviewed (n = 544). Patients with an FIB-4 index > 3.25 were considered to have a high FIB-4 index and were given a score of 1, whereas patients with an FIB-4 index ≤ 3.25 were considered to have a low FIB-4 index and were given a score of 0. The ALBI-FIB-4 score was a summary score that combined the ALBI grade and the score based on the FIB-4 index. During the follow-up period, 279 patients experienced recurrence, and 175 patients died. Multivariate analysis showed that tumor size, the presence of multiple tumors, the presence of microvascular invasion and the ALBI-FIB-4 score were four independent risk factors for both postoperative recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS). The 5-year RFS of patients with high ALBI-FIB-4 scores of 1, 2, and 3 were 55.0%, 44.2% and 35.3%, respectively (p = 0.004). The 5-year OS rates of patients with high ALBI-FIB-4 scores of 1, 2, and 3 were 72.9%, 66.4% and 54.8%, respectively (p = 0.011). The ALBI-FIB-4 score may be a surrogate marker for predicting the prognosis of patients with HCC after liver resection. A high ALBI-FIB-4 score was associated with a high incidence of postoperative recurrence and mortality.