From our study we conclude that any prognostic prediction should also take into account the potential impact of therapeutic interventions. Only surgical resection, liver transplantation and percutaneous ablation achieve a relatively high rate of complete responses in patients with tumors diagnosed at an early stage and may improve survival. By contrast patients diagnosed at an advanced stage will receive palliative treatment with unproven survival benefits. Each stage and each treatment have their specific prognostic predictors. Thus, the most accurate prognostic system will have to use a specific model for each strata at which patients may be diagnosed: early intermediate-advanced and terminal. Patients at an early stage may achieve a year survival rate above 50%, those at intermediate advanced present a 20-50% survival at 3 years and those at terminal stage die within six months. In addition to predicting prognosis, the staging system should also guide the selection of treatment.