The combined studies by using color Doppler (CD) and pulsed Doppler (PD) technique in 56 patients with 71 solid hepatic lesions smaller than 3 cm in diameter were carried out. The detecting rates of arterial signals in small hepatocellular carcinomas (sHCC) group, hepatic cavernous hemangiomas (HCH) group and others group were 86.9%, 37% and 33% respectively. Whereas, the average value of resistance index (RI) in sHCC group was very higher than that in other groups. By using combined CD and PD space-taking lesions of the liver are tentatively diagnosed as sHCC under conditions of color flow, arterial signals, and a RI of more than 50%. The specificity (96%) and accuracy (90%) of the diagnosis superior to the conventional US (P < 0.005).