Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) commonly develops in patients with chronic hepatitis. This situation is one of the reasons why intrahepatic recurrence frequently occurs even after curative resection. There are two different components of such recurrences, which occurs within 12 months (the early recurrence group) and at more than 12 months after resection (the late recurrence group). The present study was conducted to clarify the factors contributing to these different types of HCC recurrence. Methods: Ninety seven patients who underwent curative resection for HCCs were followed for initial recurrence, and predictive factors of recurrence were examined. Results: Early and late intrahepatic recurrences developed in 30 and 42 patients, respectively. In the former group, univariate analyses showed the serum AFP level (>100ng/ml, P=0.045), higher inflammatory activity (Grading) (p=0.048) and status of fibrosis (Staging) (p=0.027) in non-cancerous liver tissues to be significant risk factors, while the serum AFP level (>100ng/ml) was the only independent risk factor based on a multivariate analysis (RR: 2.78). In the latter group, only the presence of hyperplastic foci (HPF) was found to be a significant risk factor (p=0.005). Higher Grading tended to be linked to shorter disease-free survival time, although not significant. In the non-cancerous liver tissues with HPF, the level of Grading, Staging, and PCNA labeling index was significantly higher (p=0.033, 0.003, 0.040, respectively).Conclusion: Not only the tumor factors but also the underlying hepatic status including HPF, Grading, and Staging were significant risk factors for intrahepatic recurrence after curative resection for HCC
