Preoperative prediction for pathological grade of hepatocellular carcinoma via machine learning-based radiomics.

• The radiomics signatures may non-invasively explore the underlying association between CECT images and pathological grades of HCC via machine learning. • The radiomics signatures of CECT images may enhance the prediction performance of pathological grading of HCC, and further validation is required. • The features extracted from arterial phase CECT images may be more reliable than venous phase CECT images for predicting pathological grades of HCC.