QUANTITATIVE MORPHOLOGY OF HUMAN CIRRHOTIC LIVERS .1. PARAMETER EXPRESSION OF PATTERN AS A BASIS FOR COMPUTERIZED CLASSIFICATION

Although classification is a long-used method of histopathology, a rep roducible one has yet to be created. We established a most adequate cl assification of cirrhosis from a geometric and statistical point of vi ew, by reducing its form to a set of quantities and submitting the dat a to multivariate analysis. In this article, methods for quantificatio n are described as a preliminary step for the statistical treatment th at appears in another paper. The pattern was reduced to a Set of four quantities: (i) the mean nodular radius; (ii) the coarseness; (iii) th e mean septal thickness; and (iv) the degree of nodular separation. A model of dispersed spheres with various radii r was employed to assimi late cirrhosis; r was assumed to follow a logarithmic normal distribut ion. The parameters of this distribution were estimated stereologicall y from measurements on microscopic sections of chord lengths lambda ge nerated from nodules by a test line. The coarseness was defined as the volume % of nodules larger than 1.5 mm in r. The mean septal thicknes s was determined stereologically on a plate model, into which the actu al septa were transformed without changing their volume or surface den sity. The degree of nodular separation p(theta) was defined as a two-d imensional parameter, based on the curvature of nodulo-septal borders. It was demonstrated in several examples how accurately a set of these quantities describes various patterns of cirrhosis.