Stereology in the extraction of information from images

Some important aspects for information extraction by stereology from images in surgical and experimental pathology are discussed. The relationship between stereology and morphometry is briefly discussed, with the most important conditions for stereologic analysis in pathology pointed out. The possibilities, limits and problems inherent in stereologic and morphometric analysis in pathology are explained in two examples: so-called "small airways disease" and tight junctions of hepatocytes during physiologic choleresis.