Classification tool for the systematic histological assessment of hepatocellular carcinoma, macroregenerative nodules, and dysplastic nodules in cirrhotic liver

Figure 1 MCA of exploratory set of 212 hepatocellular nodules in cirrhotic livers. The relative lesion size of the hepatocellular nodules is depicted as blue dots. The diameter of the dots varies according to the size of the nodule observed. Size does not seem to allow a classification of nodules, in other words, HCC can be of all sizes, and large nodules are usually HCC. However, small nodules are not necessarily MRN or DN.

Figure 2 A: MCA of exploratory set of 212 hepatocellular nodules in cirrhotic livers; B: Distribution of histological variables in the exploratory set of 212 hepatocellular nodules. This chart shows how MCA redistributes the different types of nodules (i.e. HCC, DN, and MRN as assigned by routine histological evaluation), taking into consideration all variables of the scoring system except size. Each variable has a certain value in an axis, and the « position » in the chart represents the resulting point of different planes for a given nodule. Please note that the total number of « nodules » shown does not equal 212 because there is a certain degree of overlapping among observations and there is a lack of resolution in the chart.