Fig. 4
Flowchart of study design. The time-series data of HCC patients were converted into data of time slices with constant time interval. Time slices in each case with complete data were enrolled for further analysis (a). Data in the first time slice of the whole population would initially undergo the processing cycle (PC) for feature selection and subgroup subdivision. Then data of the next time slice in each subdivided subgroup sequentially undergo PC; the analytical cycles continue until the completion of the last time slice (b)
