摘要Background:Despite advances in surgical treatment,high recurrence after surgery remains a challenge for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC).This study aimed to investigate the association between compliance to regular follow-up and long-term oncological outcomes among patients undergoing curative resection for HCC.Methods:This multicenter study included patients who underwent curative resection for early-stage HCC between January 2012 and December 2021 at 12 liver surgery centers.Patients were stratified into a reg-ular follow-up group(follow-up every 2-3 months for the first 2 years and every 3-6 months thereafter)and an irregular/no follow-up group.Overall survival(OS),time to recurrence(TTR),and post-recurrence survival(PRS)were compared between the two groups.Results:Among 1544 patients,786(50.9％)underwent regular follow-up during postoperative follow-up.The regular follow-up group had better OS(median:113.4 vs.94.5 months,P=0.010)and PRS(median:37.9 vs.16.3 months,P＜0.001)than the irregular/no follow-up group,although TTR was comparable(median:61.4 vs.66.2 months,P=0.161).Furthermore,patients in the regular follow-up group had a lower incidence of tumor beyond the Milan criteria at recurrence(41.6％ vs.50.4％,P=0.013)and were more likely to receive curative treatments for recurrence(56.1％ vs.49.3％,P=0.061).On multivariate analysis,compliance to regular follow-up was an independent factor associated with better OS[hazard ratio(HR)=0.777,95％confidence interval(CI):0.663-0.910,P=0.002]and PRS(HR=0.523,95％CI:0.428-0.638,P＜0.001).Conclusions:Compliance to regular follow-up improved OS and PRS after curative resection for HCC,high-lighting the importance of postoperative regular follow-up for early detection of recurrence and timely intervention.