The prognosis of patients with HCC still remainsdismal.The life expectancy of HCC patients is hardto predict because of the high possibility ofpostoperative recurrence.Many factors,such aspatient’s general conditions,macroscopic tumormorphology,as well as tumor hictopathologyfeatures,have been proven of prognosticsignificance.Female HCC patient often has abetter prognosis than male patient,which might bedue to the receptor of sex hormones.Youngerpatients often have tumors with higherinvasiveness and metastatic potentials,and theirsurvival and prognosis are worse than the olderones.Co-existing hepatitis status and hepaticfunctional reserve have been confirmed as riskfactors for recurrence.Serum alpha-fetoprotein(AFP)is useful not only for diagnosis,but also asa prognostic indicator for HCC patients.AFPmRNA has been proposed as a predictive marker ofHCC cells disseminated into the circulation and formetastatic recurrence.Many pathologic features,such as tumor size,number,capsule state,celldifferentiation,venous invasion,intrahepaticspreading,and advanced pTNM stage,are thebest-established risk factors for recurrence andimportant aspects affecting the prognosis ofpatients with HCC.Marked inflammatory cellinfiltration in the tumor could predict a betterprognosis.Clinical stage is still the most importantfactor influencing on the prognosis.Extratumorspreading and lymph nodal metastasis areindependent predictors for poor outcome.Somenew predictive systems have recently beenproposed.Different strategies of treatment mighthave significant different effects on the patients’prognosis.To date,surgical resection is still theonly potentially curative treatment for HCC,including localized postoperative recurrences.Extent of resection,blood transfusion,occlusion of porta hepatis,and blood loss affect the survivaland prognosis of HCC patients.Regional therapiesprovide alternative ways to improve the prognosisof HCC patients who have no opportunity toreceive surgical treatment or postoperativerecurrence.The combination of these treatmentmodalities is hopeful to further improve theprognosis.The efficacies of neoadjuvant(preoperative)or adjuvant(postoperative)chemotherapy or chemoembolization in preventingrecurrence and on the HCC prognosis still remaingreat controversy,and deserve further evaluation.Biotherapy,including IFN-alpha therapy,will playmore important role in preventing recurrence andmetastasis of HCC after operation. The prognosis of patients with HCC still remains disirably. The life expectancy of HCC patients is hard to predict because of the high likelihood of posttoperative recurrence. Many factors, such aspatient’s general conditions, macroscopic tumormorphology, as well as tumor hctopathology features, have been proven of prognosticsignificance .Female HCC patient often has abetter prognosis than male patient, which might bed to the receptor of sex hormones. Younger patients often have tumors with higher invasiveness and metastatic potentials, and theirsurvival and prognosis are worse than the olderones. Co-existing hepatitis status and hepaticfunctional reserve have been confirmed as riskfactors for recurrence. Serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is useful not only for diagnosis, but also asa prognostic indicator for HCC patients. AFP mRNA has been proposed as a predictive marker of HCC cells disseminated into the circulation and for metastatic pastrance. Many pathologic features , such as tumor size, number, capsule state, ce lldifferentiation, venous invasion, intrahepaticspreading, and the advanced pTNM stage, are the best-established risk factors for recurrence and migrant aspects affecting the prognosis of patients with HCC. Marked inflammatory cell infiltration in the tumor could predict a better prognosis. Clinical stage is still the most important factor influencing on the prognosis.Extratumorspreading and lymph nodal metastasis areindependent predictors for poor outcome.Somenew predictive systems have recently beenproposed.Different strategies of treatment mighthave significant different effects on theprognosis.To date, surgical resection is still theonly potentially curative treatment for HCC, including localized postoperative recurrences. Extent of resection, blood transfusion, occlusion of porta hepatis, and blood loss affect the survivaland prognosis of HCC patients. Regional therapiesprovide alternative ways to improve the prognosis of HCC patients who have no opportunity toreceive surgical treatment or postoperativerecurrence.The combination of these treatment modalities is hopeful to further improve theprognosis. of the efficacies of neoadjuvant (preoperative) or adjuvant (postoperative) chemotherapy or chemoembolization in preventingrecurrence and on the HCC prognosis still remaingreat controversy, and deserve further evaluation. Biotherapy, including IFN- alpha therapy, will playmore important role in the recurrence and metastasis of HCC after operation.