Possible application of CT morphometry of the calcaneus and talus in forensic anthropological identification

Abstract

Computed tomography (CT) data provide information for volumetric and radiographic density analysis. The present study investigated the application of virtual CT volumetry of the tarsal bones to estimation of the sex, stature, and body weight using postmortem CT (PMCT) data of forensic autopsy cases. Three-dimensional (3D) images of the bilateral foot bones of intact Japanese subjects after adolescence (age ≥ 15 years, n = 179, 100 males and 79 females) were reconstructed on an automated CT image analyzer system. Measured parameters were mass volume, mean CT value (HU), and total CT value of the talus and calcaneus. Mean CT values of these bones showed age-dependent decreases in elderly subjects over 60 years of age for both sexes, with significant sex-related differences especially in the elderly. The mass volumes and total CT values of the talus and calcaneus showed significant sex-related differences, and also moderate correlations with body height and weight for bilateral bones in all cases (r = 0.58-0.78, p < 0.0001); however, the correlations of these parameters of the female talus with body weight were insufficient (r = 0.41-0.61, p < 0.0001). These observations indicate the applicability of virtual CT morphometry of the talus and calcaneus using an automated analyzer to estimate the sex and stature in forensic identification; however, greater variations should be considered in body weight estimations of females.

Sex estimation in a contemporary Turkish population based on CT scans of the calcaneus

“…Sexual dimorphism of the calcaneus has been confirmed so far for several populations such as Italians [35,36], Greeks [12,16], South Africans [37,38], Japanese [21,39], Colombians [40], Koreans [41], and Northern Americans [22,23]. Discriminant functions were created and classification accuracy reached 96% in some occasions [36].…”

“…Bunning and Barnett [20] also reported variation on the number of talar articular facets between four different groups (British, Indians, Nigerians and indigenous people from Sri-Lanka). Later studies have demonstrated the utility of this bone in sex and ancestry estimation for various populations [12,16,[21][22][23][24][25][26].…”

Forensic evaluation of sex estimation via measurements of adult index and ring finger lengths using postmortem computed tomography

“…Generally, image analysis inherently low accuracy levels in contrast to DNA analysis that provides high accuracy for sex estimation. In a previous study, an accuracy of 61.7%-87.1% was obtained using the calcaneus and talus as materials for sex estimation (Inamori-Kawamoto et al 2016). Furthermore, sensitivity and specificity of 0.85 and 0.92, respectively, was achieved when the authors used the human patella for sex estimation (Michiue et al 2017).…”

“…Postmortem imaging has been reported as useful for identifying individuals, and investigations are ongoing about the practicality of imaging various bones for the estimation of sex, height, and weight (Giurazza et al 2012;Hishmat et al 2014;Torimitsu et al 2014a;Torimitsu et al 2014b;Torimitsu et al 2015c). Several studies have demonstrated the successful application of CT to virtual bone measurement for estimating sex and stature (Djorojevic et al 2014;Hishmat et al 2015;Inamori-Kawamoto et al 2016;Macaluso and Lucena 2014;Rodriguez et al 2014;Torimitsu et al 2015b;Torimitsu et al 2014c;Torimitsu et al 2015a;Verhoff et al 2008).…”

An Analysis of Hounsfield Unit Values and Volumetrics from Computerized Tomography of the Proximal Femur for Sex and Age Estimation

“…With more high-profile cases utilizing forensic radiology and virtual analyses, "normal" values from postmortem imaging need to be investigated. Many of these studies are applying traditional or novel methods of sex estimation to virtually created bone (20,21,(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37).…”