Automated Hepatic Steatosis Assessment through Liver Biopsy Image Processing

Hepatic steatosis is the abnormal fat accumulation in the hepatic cells and the liver. The lipids contain triglycerines and other kinds of molecules. Hepatic steatosis appears when there is some defect in the process, during which the free fatty acids are taken by the liver and exuded as lipoproteins. The main reasons which can cause steatosis is alcohol, obesity and diabetes mellitus. In many cases, steatosis can lead to inflammation that is mentioned as steatohepatitis or non-alcoholic steatohepatits (NASH), which can later lead to fibrosis and finally cirrhosis. In this work, a novel methodology for automated detection and quantification of hepatic steatosis is developed. The methodology is based on liver biopsy image analysis and has been tested using 20 liver biopsy images from patients who suffer from hepatitis C, while the obtained results indicate that the proposed methodology can accurately assess liver steatosis.