Hu HJ, et al. - In 258 patients with R0 resection of hilar cholangiocarcinoma, researchers looked for the optimal cut-off value for defining the early postoperative recurrence as well as for prognostic factors related to early recurrence. Early and non-early recurrence groups including 62 patients and 196 patients, respectively, were defined using the optimal cut-off value, which was 12 months. Factors that independently determined early and non-early recurrence were lymph node metastasis, poor differentiation, increased postoperative CA 19-9 levels, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio > 3.41 and age > 60 years. In the subgroup of patients with early recurrence, independent factors of overall survival were tumor differentiation, Bismuth classification, and perineural invasion. Following curative surgery, close surveillance was recommended in patients with risk factors.