Automated segmentation and quantification of histological liver features for MASH/MASLD scoring

Abstract

Abstract Background & Aims The increasing global prevalence of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) including metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) creates an urgent need for objective methods of histopathological assessment. Conventional histological approaches are time-consuming and rely on interpreter’s experience. Therefore, the results obtained may suffer from high variability and only offer coarse categorisation. In this study, we propose a fully automated, deep-learning-based pipeline for the segmentation and characterisation of histological liver features for MASH/MASLD assessment. Methods Segmentation was applied to H&E sections from 45 mice and 44 humans with MASH/MASLD. The method, which we named qHisto (quantitative histology), utilises the nnU-Net framework and quantifies key histological components of the MASH score, including macro- and microvesicular steatosis, fibrosis, inflammation, hepatocellular ballooning and glycogenated nuclei. Additionally, we characterized the tissue using novel features that are inaccessible through manual histology, such as the distribution of fat droplet sizes, aspect ratio of nuclei and heatmaps. Results qHisto parameters showed strong positive correlations with conventional histology scores (fat area R =0.91, inflammation density R =0.7, ballooning density R =0.49) and also with quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (fat area vs . hepatic fat fraction R =0.87). Our novel scores showed that deformation of nuclei is driven by large fat droplets rather than the overall amount of fat. Conclusions A key advantage of our method is spatially resolved, precise histological quantification. These features provide a finely resolved assessment of disease severity than conventional categorical scoring. By automating time-consuming and repetitive readouts, qHisto improves standardisation and reproducibility of MASH/MASLD feature quantification and provides scalable, slide-wide readouts that can support histopathologists and enhance clinical assessment and therapeutic development. Impact and Implications The proposed method provides an objective, automatic tool for comprehensive, histological liver analysis of MASH/MASLD, which can be extended to other diseases and organs. By offering classic and novel quantitative parameters and scores, our method could support histologists in their daily routines and provide researchers with further insight into steatotic liver diseases.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Scientific Reports, 2026 · DOI ↗