Work

ViCE: An automated and quantitative program to assess intestinal tissue morphology

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Background and objective: The tissue morphology of the intestinal surface is architecturally complex with finger-like projections called villi, and glandular structures called crypts. The ratio of villus height-to-crypt depth ratio (Vh:Cd) is used to quantitatively assess disease severity and response to therapy for intestinal enteropathies, such as celiac disease and is currently quantified manually. Given the time required, manual Vh:Cd measurements have largely been limited to clinical trials and are not used widely in clinical practice. We developed ViCE (Villus Crypt Evaluator), a user-friendly software that automatically quantifies histological parameters in standard hematoxylin and eosin-stained intestinal biopsies. Methods: ViCE is based on mathematical morphology operations and is scale and staining agnostic. It evaluates tissue orientation, identifies geometrical structure, and outputs key tissue measurements. Results: The output measurements of Vh:Cd are concordant with manual quantifications across multiple datasets. Conclusions: The underlying mathematical morphological approach for ViCE is robust, and reproducible and easily adaptable for measurement of morphological features in other tissues.

Source: Journal of Pathology Informatics

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpi.2024.100397

Authors: Jeffrey La, Krishnan Raghunathan, Jocelyn A. Silvester, Jay R. Thiagarajah

Institutions: Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard University

Language: English

Topic: AI in cancer detection

Subfield: Artificial Intelligence

Field: Computer Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,470