Comparison of a preoperative MR-based recurrence risk score versus the postoperative score and four clinical staging systems in hepatocellular carcinoma: a retrospective cohort study.

• The preoperative risk score incorporating three EOB-MRI findings, AFP and AST levels, and sex achieved comparable performance with that of the postoperative score for predicting recurrence after hepatectomy in patients with HCC. • Two risk strata with low and high risks of recurrence were obtained based on the preoperative score. • The preoperative score may help tailor pretreatment decision-making and facilitate candidate selection for adjuvant clinical trials.