Three-D computational geometry: the pattern of vasculature in normal and diseased livers as expressed by the distribution of distance in space
Abstract
In cirrhosis and related lesions of the liver, the pattern of microvasculature is more or less deviated from the norm. The process is called the lobular disorganization where the normally isodistant relation of the small portal and hepatic venules is gradually lost with the formation of P-C (portal-central venous) bridgings. To quantify the degree of disorganization, we defined the "architectural index": it expresses the grade of vascular isodistantism with the distribution pattern of the route length L from a portal to a hepatic venule via point randomly located in the space. The measurement of L, on 300 to 400 points in one liver, was performed with the aid of a computer, into which the contours of venules were inputted from serial sections and stored as voxel data. Eight livers with chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis or idiopathic portal hypertension and one control liver were examined. The index proved to fully describe the grade of disorganization and work as a measure of cirrhotic changes.