Estimation of sex using morphometric measurements performed on cranial computerized tomography scans
- 1 February 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in La radiologia medica
- Vol. 126 (2), 306-315
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s11547-020-01233-8
Abstract
We aimed to evaluate the usefulness of morphometric measurements performed on cranial computerized tomography (CT) images for the estimation of sex. A retrospective study was performed in the radiology department of a tertiary care center using data collected from cranial CT scans of 616 Caucasian cases (307 women, 309 men) with an average age of 44.70 +/- 16.43. The parameters under investigation consisted of maximum cranial length (MCL), minimum frontal breadth, bi-zygomatic breadth (BZB), parietal chord, maximum cranial breadth, bi-mastoid diameter (BIM) and the length of cranial base. Any statistically significant difference in terms of these parameters was found between males and females. In our series, women were remarkably older than men (47.56 +/- 15.87 vs. 41.39 +/- 16.43;p < 0.001). We observed that there was a statistically significant difference between males and females concerning all morphometric measurements and males displayed higher values in terms of all parameters (p < 0.001, for all). The variables with the most successful performance for discrimination of gender were BZB (89.2%), MCL (87.4%) and BIM (84.8%). The concomitant use of these morphometric measurements seems to improve the accuracy of sex estimation. We suggest that morphometric measurements performed on cranial CT images can be useful for the estimation of sex.Keywords
This publication has 18 references indexed in Scilit:
- Assessment of sex in a modern Turkish population using cranial anthropometric parametersLegal Medicine, 2016
- Concordance of traditional osteometric and volume-rendered MSCT interlandmark cranial measurementsInternational journal of legal medicine, 2012
- Estimation of sex from sternal measurements in a Western Australian populationForensic Science International, 2012
- Virtual Determination of Sex: Metric and Nonmetric Traits of the Adult Pelvis from 3D Computed Tomography Models*,†Journal of Forensic Sciences, 2011
- Age and gender-dependent bone density changes of the human skull disclosed by high-resolution flat-panel computed tomographyInternational journal of legal medicine, 2011
- Digital forensic osteology—Possibilities in cooperation with the Virtopsy® projectForensic Science International, 2008
- RadiographyPublished by Informa UK Limited ,2006
- VIRTOPSY—Scientific Documentation, Reconstruction and Animation in Forensic: Individual and Real 3D Data Based Geo-Metric Approach Including Optical Body/Object Surface and Radiological CT/MRI ScanningJournal of Forensic Sciences, 2005
- Application of osteology to forensic medicineClinical Anatomy, 2002
- Estimation of stature from somatometry of skullForensic Science International, 1998