Fundamentals of the morphometric approach in neuropathology

The purposes of neuropathological examination are diagnosis and discovery of new findings. Quantitative examination closely relates to these aims. To fulfil these aims, neuropathologists should understand well the strengths and weaknesses of the power of observation. The power of observation in humans is quite strong in differentiation of shapes, but weak in counting numbers and measuring size, length and width. Quantitative examination is a help in observation, and the fruits of the examination are generalization, numerization and schematization of the neuropathological findings, and analogy of neuronal function.