Sir,

We are grateful to Cucchetti et al for their interest in our work, and pleased that they are in strong agreement, in principle, with our suggestion that transplantation may be the most appropriate therapy for HCC patients classified as ALBI grade-2 (Toyoda et al, 2016). Furthermore, we agree that it would be of interest to compare the utility of ALBI with the current standard for transplant prioritisation, the Model for End-stage Liver Disease score. Indeed, we are currently undertaking such a comparison and hope to publish this work shortly.

However, we also agree with Cuchetti et al that we should have been more cautious in suggesting ablation as an alternative option to resection for ALBI grade-2 patients. Indeed, our data does not directly support this contention.