Identification of human remains: forensic radiology

Kahana, Tzipi; Hiss, Jehuda

doi:10.1016/s1353-1131(97)90002-x

Cited by 54 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The importance of radiographic methods has been long acknowledged in medicolegal practice [3][4][5][18][19][20], and currently, it includes both clinical and postmortem radiology. Despite the fact that the most frequent applications survey positive identification (e.g., comparison of antemortem and postmortem dental Xrays), it has been widely used in biological profiling of the deceased, determination of cause and manner of death, medical negligence, non-accidental trauma, and smuggling [3,5,19]. Classical radiographic techniques can be helpful in assessing biological features from the different bones of the human skeleton.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Radiological identification was first introduced in 1926 by Culbert and Law, and since then, it has been extensively used in diagnosing skeletal pathology and trauma as well as in positive identification [1][2][3][4][5]. Nevertheless, the use of radiography in skeletal identification has been, until recently, limited to classical radiographic methods [6][7][8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sex estimation of the Cretan humerus: a digital radiometric study

2010

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Sex estimation based on measurements of unidentified skeletal remains recovered in crime and death scenes can be accomplished with accuracy. In mass disasters, however, the remains are often fleshed, burned, and/or commingled. As a result, osteometric methods are difficult to apply. In such cases, radiography can be of great use during the examination process. A total of 101 (53 males and 48 females) adult humeri were radiographed using digital equipment (Technix TCA 4R PLUS). Specific measurements were taken on the radiographs and then analyzed. Multivariate discriminant function analysis was applied, and the results showed up to 89.1% classification accuracy. Single variables performed equally well for both epiphyses reaching 86.1% correct group membership. The method proposed here is successful, offering an alternative sex estimation technique applicable to the identification of deceased individuals whose remains are semi-fleshed, burned, mutilated, or otherwise unrecognizable. Specifically, this method is extremely useful when maceration of the remains is not an option.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex estimation of the Cretan humerus: a digital radiometric study

2010

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Section: Riassuntounclassified

“…Inoltre, una ricerca effettuata sulla frequenza delle caratteristiche morfologiche dello scheletro, come fratture, condizioni patologiche ed impianti chirurgici, suggerisce che alcuni tratti precedentemente considerati, suffi cientemente unici, possono essere piuttosto comuni [20]. Alcuni autori sostengono che la quantifi cazione e la standardizzazione delle caratteristiche utili all'identifi cazione personale non è necessaria e che l'opinione del consulente in tali casi è valido e suffi ciente [21]; infatti, la diretta comparazione del materiale radiografi co AM e PM è ampiamente applicata in ambito internazionale per l'identifi cazione personale [2,5,22,23].…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

“…La radiologia forense è essenziale nell'ambito del protocollo di identifi cazione dei cadaveri. L'immagine radiografi ca è ampiamente e comunemente utilizzata in ambito identifi cativo [2][3][4][5][6][7][8], sebbene attualmente anche le più avanzate tecniche radiografi che come a tomografi a assiale computerizzata (TAC) e la multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) trovano un'utile applicazione in ambito forense [9][10][11].Nel processo identifi cativo i dati radiografi ci AM e post mortem (PM) sono messi a confronto e la corrispondenza fra le due immagini deve essere ottenuta tramite una meticolosa comparazione dei dettagli [12][13][14]. Questo approccio viene ampiamente utilizzato nel campo dell'odontologia forense, ove le caratteristiche anatomiche, patologiche e iatrogene degli elementi dentari contribuiscono a rendere unico il profi lo dentario; da questo punto di vista, le procedure di identifi cazione personale basate su metodi odontologici sono le più facili e veloci da effettuarsi, e possono essere eseguite tramite schemi dentali, sovrapposizioni dentarie e indagini radiografi che [15,16].…”

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Forensic radiology and personal identification of unidentified bodies: a review

2011

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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.

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Radiology

Viner

2009

Wiley Encyclopedia of Forensic Science

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Identification of human remains: forensic radiology

Cited by 54 publications

References 26 publications

Sex estimation of the Cretan humerus: a digital radiometric study

Sex estimation of the Cretan humerus: a digital radiometric study

Forensic radiology and personal identification of unidentified bodies: a review

Radiology

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