Digital pathology: accurate technique for quantitative assessment of histological features in metabolic‐associated fatty liver disease

Summary Background Histological evaluation of metabolic‐associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) biopsies is subjective, descriptive and with interobserver variability. Aims To examine the relationship between different histological features (fibrosis, steatosis, inflammation and iron) measured with a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Alimentary pharmacology & therapeutics 2021-01, Vol.53 (1), p.160-171
Main Authors: Marti‐Aguado, David, Rodríguez‐Ortega, Alejandro, Mestre‐Alagarda, Claudia, Bauza, Mónica, Valero‐Pérez, Elena, Alfaro‐Cervello, Clara, Benlloch, Salvador, Pérez‐Rojas, Judith, Ferrández, Antonio, Alemany‐Monraval, Pilar, Escudero‐García, Desamparados, Monton, Cristina, Aguilera, Victoria, Alberich‐Bayarri, Ángel, Serra, Miguel Ángel, Marti‐Bonmati, Luis
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Automation
Biopsy
Collagen
Fatty liver
Fibrosis
FLIP protein
Humans
Image processing
Inflammation
Iron
Liver - pathology
Liver Cirrhosis - diagnosis
Liver Cirrhosis - pathology
Liver diseases
Metabolism
Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease - pathology
Pathology
Steatosis
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Summary Background Histological evaluation of metabolic‐associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) biopsies is subjective, descriptive and with interobserver variability. Aims To examine the relationship between different histological features (fibrosis, steatosis, inflammation and iron) measured with automated whole‐slide quantitative digital pathology and corresponding semiquantitative scoring systems, and the distribution of digital pathology measurements across Fatty Liver Inhibition of Progression (FLIP) algorithm and Steatosis, Activity and Fibrosis (SAF) scoring system Methods We prospectively included 136 consecutive patients who underwent liver biopsy for MAFLD at three Spanish centres (January 2017‐January 2020). Biopsies were scored by two blinded pathologists according to the Non‐alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH) Clinical Research Network system for fibrosis staging, the FLIP/SAF classification for steatosis and inflammation grading and Deugnier score for iron grading. Proportionate areas of collagen, fat, inflammatory cells and iron deposits were measured with computer‐assisted digital image analysis. A test‐retest experiment was performed for precision repeatability evaluation. Results Digital pathology showed strong correlation with fibrosis (r = 0.79; P 
ISSN:0269-2813
1365-2036
DOI:10.1111/apt.16100