Artificial intelligence and deep learning: New tools for histopathological diagnosis of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease/nonalcoholic steatohepatitis

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)/nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is associated with metabolic syndrome and is rapidly increasing globally with the increased prevalence of obesity. Although noninvasive diagnosis of NAFLD/NASH has progressed, pathological evaluation of liver biopsy specimens remains the gold standard for diagnosing NAFLD/NASH. However, the pathological diagnosis of NAFLD/NASH relies on the subjective judgment of the pathologist, resulting in non-negligible interobserver variations. Artificial intelligence (AI) is an emerging tool in pathology to assist diagnoses with high objectivity and accuracy. An increasing number of studies have reported the usefulness of AI in the pathological diagnosis of NAFLD/NASH, and our group has already used it in animal experiments. In this minireview, we first outline the histopathological characteristics of NAFLD/NASH and the basics of AI. Subsequently, we introduce previous research on AI-based pathological diagnosis of NAFLD/NASH.