Long AFP HL was significantly associated with early postoperative recurrence ( P < 0.001), as was microvascular invasion. In the exploration cohort, 48 patients (21.3%) achieved early AFP complete resolution, 116 (51.6%) had normal HL, and 61 (27.1%) had prolonged HL. Overall, probabilities of recurrence and survival were estimated and compared across the AFP HL categories. We defined 3 categories of AFP HL: early complete resolution of AFP, normal HL, and prolonged HL if the HL exceeded 7 days. The analysis was based on cohorts of 225 (exploration set) and 117 (validation set) treatment-naïve HCC patients undergoing curative liver resection. There is still a paucity of early surrogate indicators of clinical endpoints after liver resection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). To explore the prognostic value of the postsurgical half-life (HL) of serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP).
