System and method for generating an indicator from an image of a histological section

Method for generating a quantity of interest relative to a human or animal hepatic tissue, based on a digital representation in the form of a pixel array, of a histological section of a liver, said method being implemented by a processor of a medical imaging system, said system also including an output human-machine interface, wherein:

• the histological section is the subject of a staining step, prior to its digitization, in order to generate said digital representation, said staining causing distinctive stainings of the hepatic tissue, the collagen, the void and the cells forming bile ducts;
• said method includes:
• a step for distinguishing the pixels of said digital representation describing collagen;
• a step for distinguishing the pixels of said digital representation describing the cells of bile ducts;
• a step for identifying the contours of the lumina of the hepatic vessels present in said digital representation and classifying said contours as contours of portal veins or contours of centrilobular veins according to a proximity criterion with pixels of the digital representation distinguished as describing cells of bile ducts;
• a step for determining in the digital representation, portal, central and perisinusoidal zones based on said thus-classified contours;
• a step for quantifying the area of the pixels of the digital representation describing collagen in at least one of said portal, central and perisinusoidal zones;
• a step for generating a quantity of interest describing a degree of fibrosis of the hepatic tissue based on said area of the pixels describing collagen;
• a step for causing an output, via the output human-machine interface of the system, of said quantity of interest.