title: Morphometric analysis of hepatocellular nodular lesions in HCV cirrhosis.
abstract: We generated a computerized morphometric model to evaluate and quantify the morphological features in large regenerative nodules (LRN), high-grade dysplastic nodules (HGDN) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Sixteen LRN, 10 HGDN and 16 HCC in HCV-cirrhotic livers were stained with H&E, smooth muscle actin, CD34, CD31 and reticulin to evaluate volume and surface fractions. On H&E stains, the most discriminatory features between LRN, HGDN and HCC were volume fraction and the number of hepatocyte nuclei in unit volume and hepatocyte nuclear/cytoplasmic ratio. On immunohistochemistry, volume fractions of capillarised sinusoids, capillary units and isolated arteries were significantly different among all groups and highest in HCC; surface fraction of reticulin was markedly decreased in HCC. Our morphometric model is an objective method for quantification of the morphological changes of the nodular lesions, and it could be applied to studies involving histological evaluation of the spectrum of nodular lesions arising in the cirrhotic liver.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Morfologia Umana e Scienze Biomediche Città Studi, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Milan, Italy. maurizio.vertemati@unimi.it
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vertemati
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Moscheni
authors.forename: Duccio
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Petrella
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lamperti
authors.forename: Mara
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cossa
authors.forename: Marcello
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gambacorta
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goffredi
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vizzotto
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D001699:Biometry; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000473:pathology; D003198:Computer Simulation; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor