Fig. 2

A high level of neutrophil infiltration correlates with poor prognosis of patients with HCC. Neutrophil infiltration in peritumoural tissue (b) but not in tumoural tissue (a) predicts overall survival. The NLR in both peritumoural tissues and tumour tissues in patients with HCC is divided into two groups (low, NLR < 5.35; high, NLR>/=5.35), according to the median value of the pNLR at each specific site. The NLR in both peritumoural tissue (d) and tumour tissue (c) could predict a poorer overall survival in patients with HCC. The Kaplan–Meier method estimates of the probability graphs of the survival of the patients and the survival time were calculated from the time of surgery until the death of the patients. The log-rank test was used for comparisons between the two groups