BACKGROUND:?Whether a major liver resection is safe has been judged mainly from the patients hepatic reserve. However, a safe limit for liver resection does not exist yet. This study aimed to construct a new scoring system as a guide to determine a safe limit for liver resection and avoid liver dysfunction after hepatectomy. METHODS:?Eighty-six patients with hepatocellular carcinoma who had undergone hepatectomy in West China Hospital from March 2007 to June 2010 were reviewed. The patients were classified according to the levels of total bilirubin after hepatectomy and the parameters in the perioperative period were compared. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was made to assess the liver function compensatory (LFC) value to predict liver dysfunction of the patients after hepatectomy. LFC value is defined as the preoperative KICG value×22.487+standard remnant liver volume (SRLV)×0.020. RESULTS:?Patients were classified into group I (normal group, n=69) and group II (with total bilirubin >85.5 μmol/L for 7 days after hepatectomy, n=17) based on the levels of total bilirubin after hepatectomy. Group II was further divided into two subgroups: recovered subgroup (n=14) and fatal subgroup (n=3). There were no significant differences in preoperative data or intraoperative findings except the indocyanine green test parameters (KICG and ICG R15) and SRLV. ROC analysis showed that the sensitivity and specificity of an LFC value ≤13.01 were 94.1% and 82.6% respectively for predicting liver dysfunction of the patients after hepatectomy. CONCLUSIONS:?The LFC value appears to be a good predictor of postoperative liver dysfunction in patients who undergo hepatectomy for HCC. An expected LFC value of 13.01 seems to be a safe limit for liver resection.