•247 consecutive hepatitis B related hepatocellular carcinoma patients underwent hepatectomy.
•Detailed preoperative examinations including: LSM before hepatectomy.
•The endpoint was the development of PHLF.

•All of the patients had chronic hepatitis B defined as the presence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) for more than 6 months and 76 (30.8%) had cirrhosis.
•PHLF occurred in 37 (14.98%) patients.
•Preoperative LSM (odds ratio, OR, 1.21; 95% confidence interval, 95% CI: 1.13-1.29; P < 0.001) and international normalized ratio (INR) (OR, 1.07; 95%CI: 1.01-1.12; P < 0.05) were revealed to be independent risk factors for PHLF, and a new model was defined as LSM INR index (LSM-INR index =0.191*LSM + 6.317*INR-11.154).
•The optimal cutoff values of LSM and LSM-INR index for predicting PHLF were 14 kPa (AUC 0.86, 95% CI: 0.811-0.901, P < 0.001) and -1.92 (AUC 0.87, 95% CI: 0.822-0.909, P < 0.001), respectively.