LAUSR

We appreciate the comments by Mo et al. on our meta-analysis (1). They mentioned three relevant points on the inherent limitations of the meta-analysis. The first issue is the inclusion of studies that classified a single large tumor (>5 cm) as intermediate stage (B) in the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) system. According to the original BCLC classification and the recent clinical practice guideline from the EASL, a single large hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is classified as early stage (BCLC-A). However, there had been controversies about the heterogeneity of BCLC-B, including whether a single large HCC should be classified as BCLC-A or BCLC-B. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.