Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) constitutes a prominent global health challenge. According to the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) guideline HCC can be diagnosed by imaging examination. However, it shows that contrast-enhanced CT has limited accuracy in the diagnosis of HCC, particularly, small-size HCC lesions (≤ 20 mm) are the most difficult to identify with CT demonstrating sensitivity = 64% [1]. An Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithm that can analyze liver CT images and localize HCC lesions would be valuable for patients at risk of HCC. Recent studies have presented promising outcomes regarding the application of AI algorithms in HCC diagnosis; However, the efficacy in localizing small-sized HCC lesions in CT images remains uncertain, and there is a need for improvement in reducing the false-positive rate [2-4].