Osteometric Assessment of Mastoids for Sex Discrimination. A Cone Beam Computed Tomographic Study.

Abstract

Objectives:The purpose of this study is to validate different mastoid osteometric measurements in sex estimation in a sample of Egyptian population using cone beam computed tomography. Study design:This study was conducted on 100 cone beam computed topographic scans, with age range was from 18 to 80 years. Scans were analyzed using On Demand software. Nine osteometric measurements were used for discrimination. They all were done for both sides then averaged.Results: Males group showed higher means in all parameters. There was highly statistically significant difference between the two groups (p<0.01) except for mastoid length and mastoid medial convergence angle (p>0.05). The best of the calculated functions was obtained by mastoid height and the inter-mastoidale distance. Mastoid height showed the highest canonical correlation (0.548) and 72% classification accuracy followed by inter-mastoidal distance which showed (0.417) canonical correlation and the highest classification accuracy 82%. On the other hand, the function obtained by the mastoid length and mastoid medial convergence angle proved to be the least efficient (58%, 36%).Conclusions: Mastoid bone could be efficiently used in sex discrimination via un-identified bone remains and is preferable in forensic medicine and anthropology. Mastoid height and Intermastoidale distance are the most efficient discriminants with high accuracy. A discriminant function equation specific for the studied Egyptian population has been derived from the mastoid variables. We can conclude that mastoid bone osteometric measurements are efficient for human sex discrimination. This will give the society a clue to solve many criminal conditions.