Accurate classification of liver nuclei based on AI models for diagnostic support of hepatocellular carcinoma

Introduction. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary liver cancer worldwide. Early diagnosis is crucial to improve management and provide survival benefits to patients with HCC. Liver biopsy coupled to histopathology remains the “gold standard”. Visual inspection of biopsy images is a crucial examination to identify tissue and cellular alterations related to HCC, but it is limited by long timelines and by the variability in interpretation. Therefore, recent advances in digital microscopy and automatic image analysis have been developed for HCC classification, thus facilitating the final diagnosis.