Aim: To identify the association between the expression of IncRNA NEAT I and clinicopathological characteristics of patients with HCC, and to explore the prognostic significance of IncRNA NEAT1 in predicting prognosis of HCC. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 86 patients with HCC (35 female, 51 male) managed in our institution between 2009 and 2014. The expression level of lncRNA NEAT1 was detected by real-time PCR. Prognostic factors were evaluated using Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox proportional hazards models. Results: For the entire cohort of 86 patients, we showed that the expression level of NEAT1 was significantly higher in HCC tissues compared with non-tumorous tissues and NEAT' was increased obviously in the HCC cell lines including SMMC-7721, Huh-7 and Hep3B (P < 0.001). MTT assay showed that si-NEAT I remarkably inhibited the cell proliferation in three HCC cell lines. Moreover, over-expression of IncRNA NEAT1 was closely related to liver cirrhosis (P = 0.026), microvascular invasion (MVI) (P = 0.023), and TNM stage (P = 0.017). After adjusting for competing risk factors, we identified that expression level of lncRNA NEAT1 was an independently risk factor associated with the prognosis of patients with HCC (P = 0.031). Conclusions: In this study, we found NEAT I expressed significantly higher in HCC tissues compared with non-tumorous tissues. Overexpression of IncRNA NEAT I was an independently risk factor associated with the prognosis of patients with HCC. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd, BASO similar to The Association for Cancer Surgery, and the European Society of Surgical Oncology. All rights reserved.