Forensic radiology and personal identification of unidentified bodies: a review

Abstract

Personal identification of unidentified bodies is crucial for ethical, juridical and civil reasons and is performed through comparison between biological data obtained from the cadaver and antemortem material from one or more missing persons to whom the body may have belonged in life. The increasing applications of forensic radiology and the wide use of conventional radiography and computed tomography (CT) in routine clinical practice demonstrate the potential of these technologies as tools for verifying the correspondence between an unidentified body and an identity suspect. This paper reviews the literature concerning the application of forensic radiology to the difficult issue of personal identification. Despite the increasing importance of the comparison between radiographic and CT findings, numerous limitations still need to be overcome, including the fact that few forensic centres have access to sophisticated X-ray technologies and that the reliability of those technologies for detecting specific morphological traits and bone lesions is a matter of intense debate. In addition, as with other morphological methods for identification, comparisons between antemortem and postmortem data require standardisation and statistical analysis, especially in Europe where there are very few indications concerning the admission in court of evidence obtained by anthropological and radiological methods. In the future, with developments in radiographic technologies and increasing numbers of studies on their application to the forensic setting, radiology will become one of the most useful tools in the field of personal identification.

Morphometric analysis of the foramen magnum using cone beam computed tomography

“…The aforementioned studies were performed with dry skulls. However, radiologic images provide several measurements without a flesh barrier and imaging methods are generally preferred by forensic scientists (6,20,21,24,30,31).…”

Evaluation of Sexual Dimorphism in North India Population Using Morphometric Analysis of Foramen Magnum

“…The aforementioned studies were performed with dry skulls. However, radiologic images provide several measurements without a flesh barrier and imaging methods are generally preferred by forensic scientists [22,[32][33][34][35].…”

Postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) and disaster victim identification

“…The AM and PM data are then processed by the reconciliation team, which attempts to match the information collected by both teams and identify the victims. The result of the PM/AM comparison is not always conclusive and therefore a match may render the following outcomes [9,10]:…”