This study was conducted to investigate the association between initial nutritional status and treatment outcome of hepatoma patients. Initial nutritional status was measured based on weight, serum albumin and total lymphocyte counts. Treatment outcome was measured in the three categories such as complication, treatment status at discharge and mortality. The study subjects were 120 patients with hepatoma cancer admitted at a university hospital in Seoul. The information about initial nutritional status and treatment outcome was collected from medical records. Chi-square test was used to test the association between initial nutritional status and treatment outcome. As a result, 76.6% of the subjects were classified as the nutritional risk group based on initial nutritional status. Prevalence of complication was higher in nutritional risk group Ⅰ and Ⅱ than that in non-risk group(p<0.05). Death rate of the nutritional risk group was significantly higher than that of non-risk group(p<0.001). The findings suggest the strong association between the initial nutritional status and treatment outcome of hepatoma cancer.