Fractal dimension of hepatocytes' nuclei in normal liver vs hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in human subjects - Preliminary results

Abstract

Background: With the aim of determining the fractal dimension, as an expression of quantitative measure of nuclear shape, in normal and malignant hepatocytes, the box-counting method was performed, followed by linear approximation of necessary numeric values by the first degree polynoma. Materials and methods: A total of 308 human hepatocytes' nuclei on digitized microscopic images of histological sections (119 normal and 189 hepatocellular carcinoma nuclei) were submitted to fractal analysis, using haematoxylin-eosin stained liver biopsy specimen. Results: The obtained mean fractal dimension for nuclei of normal hepatocytes was 1.0521(+)0.16 versus nuclei of malignant hepatocytes, where it was 1.15299(+)0.126. Conclusion: The average values of the nuclear fractal dimensions presented, among normal and malignant hepatocytes are statistically significantly different(p<0.0039).