Objective: To investigate a method of liver functional reserve estimation suitable for Chinese patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) before hepatectomy. Methods: The clinical data of 129 consecutive patients with HBV-related HCC undergoing partial hepatectomy were retrospectively analyzed, and then the specificities and sensitivities of three classical methods of liver functional reserve estimation for predicting posthepatectomy hepatic failure were compared. Results: Of the patients, 13 cases (10%) developed liver failure and one died in hospital. The proportion of patients undergoing major hepatectomy, age and indocyanine green retention rate at 15 min (ICGR15) of the group with liver failure were significantly higher than those in the other group with good recovery of liver function (all P<0.05). The Decision Tree and the ICGR15 method had significant value for liver functional reserve estimation (both P<0.01). The sensitivity, specificity, the positive predictive value and the negative predictive value of decision tree method were 95%, 84%, 64% and 98%, respectively, which were all better than those of ICGR15 method. Conclusion: The Decision Tree is a suitable method for liver functional reserve estimation before hepatectomy in patients with HBV-related HCC.