title: Fractal geometry: a useful tool for quantifying irregular lesions in human liver biopsy specimens.
abstract: Irregularity and complexity are the main features of every biological system, including human tissues, cells and sub-cellular components. These two properties of the organized biological matter cannot be quantified by means of the classical Euclidean geometry, which is able to measure regular object, practically unknown in Nature. The aims of our paper were a) to underline the importance of the shape of a biological structure, b) to investigate the fractal geometry for quantifying the liver histo-pathological structures, and c) to explain the significance of several terms used in the fractal analysis of complex biological systems.
authors.affiliation: Direzione Scientifica, Istituto Clinico Humanitas, Rozzano, Milan, Italy. fabio.grizzi@humanitas.it
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Grizzi
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ceva-Grimaldi
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Dioguardi
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001707:Biopsy, Needle / Q000379:methods*; D017709:Fractals; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology