Statistical analyses

The Kolmogorov–Smirnov method was performed for the normality test. Quantitative data with a normal distribution were presented as the mean ± standard deviation (mean ± SD), and two groups were compared using the Student’s t-test. Data that were not normally distributed were expressed as the median (range), and the Mann–Whitney U test was used for comparisons between the two groups. Count data were expressed as the frequency and compared using the chi-squared or Fisher’s exact test. The Kaplan–Meier method was used to draw the recurrence rate curve, and the log-rank method was used to compare the difference of the recurrence rate between the two groups. Univariate and multivariate analyses (Entered method) were performed using the Cox proportional hazard model to explore the independent risk factors affecting postoperative early recurrence within 1 year in single and small HBV-HCC. SPSS version 19.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) was used for statistical analysis. A two-sided P value <0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.