By using colour coded Doppler sonography and duplex Doppler sonography, the presence of AV-shunts could be demonstrated correctly in 15 patients with arteriovenous malformations (angiographic correlation was obtained in 10 cases). The feeding vessels could not be identified exactly in all cases by using duplex Doppler sonography; correct identification of the feeding vessels was possible in only 2 patients by using colour coded Doppler sonography. In one patient, a soft tissue tumour could be diagnosed sonographically (histology: malignant synovialoma). Therefore, colour coded Doppler sonography serves as an important supplement to angiography in the diagnostic evaluation of arteriovenous malformations, but cannot replace it.