Objective To discuss the DSA characteristics of primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and to investigate the relationship between the DSA findings and the expression of tumor’s vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Methods Fifty-four patients with pathologically-proved primary HCC were enrolled in this study. The DSA findings, including tumor’s size, lesion’s number, lesion’s margin, the degree of blood supply, the presence or absence of artreiovnous shunting (AVS), etc. were observed and analyzed. The qualitative test of VEGF of HCC tissue was made by using Elivision TMplus method, and based on the stain degree and the percentage of the positive cells a comprehensive analyse was carried out. With HE stain the pathologic classification was conducted by using Edmmond method. In this study, grade I and II were regarded as well-differentiated group and grade III and IV were regarded as poorly-differentiated group. The data were processed by software SPSSS13.0 and the results were statistically analyzed. Results The expression degree of VEGF in HCC tissue was related to the blood supply pattern, the lesion’s number, the integrity of the tumor’s border and the degree of differentiation (P 0.05). Conclusion Some DSA manifestations of primary HCC bear a certain relationship to the VEGF content in the tumor tissue. Through observing the DSA characteristics, the assessment of the invasion and metastasis of HCC can be well made, which will afford the clinical physicians a useful reference in making individualized therapeutic schedule and in estimating the prognosis.