<正> A gross morphological classification of 66 small hepatocellular carcinomas （SHCC

≤3 cm in diameter）and a determination of the DNA-content in 20 SHCC and 26 LHCC（larger hepatocellular carcinoma

>3 cm in diameter）by image analysis technology were studiedin this paper.It was showed that SHCC could be divided into three types:Type I

non-capsule type （n=13

19.7％）;type II

capsule type（n=47

71.2％） and Type III

infiltrative type （n=6

9.1％）.The Type I and Type II SHCC mainly had diploid DNAstem line

while Type III SHCC mainly haa aneuploid DN A stem line.In patients with≤3cmSHCC

the postoperative 5-year survival rate was 75％

significantly higher than that of 42.3％in patients with>3 cm LHCC （P<0.05）.There was no positive correlation between the tu-mor size and serum AFP level in this series.The results suggest that SHCC of≤3 cm in sizebasicaily reflects the relatively berugn btotogical characteristics of early hepatocellular carcinomaand is the best opportunity to acmeve the best curative results.But a small part of SHCC ex-presses markediy increased malignant biological behaviours due to the acceleration of stem lineselection.Up to now

as to the atscovery of the SHCC

the quantitative measurement of serumAFP level is still an effective and generally accepted method.