Age Estimation by Cranial Suture Using Postmortem Computed Tomography Images Among Malaysian

Year 2023, Volume: 37 Issue: 1, 5 - 11, 01.04.2023

Nor Fadhilah Madon Poh Soon Lai , Kunasilan Subramaniam Mansharan Kaur Chainchel Singh Faridah Mohd Nor Sheue Feng Siew

Abstract

Introduction: In the forensic context, cranial sutures are valuable in the determination of age at death. Purpose: This study was conducted to review the Meindl and Lovejoy’s (ML) age estimation method in cranial suture from post-mortem computed tomography (PMCT) Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) images among the Malaysian population. Material and Methods: About 106 scanned cases by PMCT between year 2015 and 2018 at the institute were analysed upon fulfilling the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The estimated age was formulated by the ML scoring method. The total scores from combinations of seven different suture areas were analysed for correlation with age and its regression formula was applied for cross-validation study with actual age in terms of bias and inaccuracy. Results: The sex and race contribute no measurable bias towards the age prediction. There was significant correlation between the total scores of cranial suture closure pattern and age. Results showed that the ML scoring method was useful for age estimation, in which 62.3% of cases were accurately estimated within standard of estimation error (SEE) range as well as the ML reference age range. There was a relatively good association between cranial suture closure pattern and age using the vault system by the ML method on PMCT DICOM images of the crania.

Keywords

Cranial Sutures, Forensic Anthropology, Meindl and Lovejoy, PMCT, Age Estimation

Malezyalılar Arasında Postmortem Bilgisayarlı Tomografi Görüntüleri Kullanılarak Kranial Sütür ile Yaş Tahmini

Abstract

Giriş: Adli bağlamda, kranial sütürler ölüm yaşının belirlenmesinde değerlidir. Amaç: Bu çalışma, Malezya popülasyonunda post-mortem bilgisayarlı tomografi (PMBT) Dijital Görüntüleme ve Tıpta İletişim ("Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine"-DICOM) görüntülerinden kranial sütürde Meindl ve Lovejoy'un (ML) yaş tahmin yöntemini incelemek için yapılmıştır. Gereç ve Yöntem: Enstitüde 2015 ve 2018 yılları arasında PMBT tarafından taranan yaklaşık 106 vaka, dahil etme ve hariç tutma kriterlerini yerine getirdikten sonra analiz edildi. Tahmini yaş, ML puanlama yöntemiyle formüle edildi. Yedi farklı sütür alanının kombinasyonlarından elde edilen toplam puanlar, yaşla korelasyon için analiz edildi ve yanlılık ve yanlışlık açısından gerçek yaş ile çapraz doğrulama çalışması için regresyon formülü uygulandı. Sonuç: Cinsiyet ve ırk, yaş tahminine yönelik ölçülebilir bir önyargıya katkıda bulunmaz. Kranial sütür kapanma paterni toplam puanları ile yaş arasında anlamlı bir ilişki vardı. Sonuçlar, ML puanlama yönteminin, vakaların %62,3'ünün standart tahmin hatası (SEE) aralığının yanı sıra ML referans yaş aralığı içinde doğru bir şekilde tahmin edildiği yaş tahmini için yararlı olduğunu göstermiştir. Kafatasının PMBT DICOM görüntülerinde ML yöntemiyle tonoz sistemi kullanılarak kraniyal sütür kapanma paterni ile yaş arasında anlamlı bir ilişki olduğu sonucuna varıldı.

Keywords

Kranial Sütürler, Adli Antropoloji, Meindl ve Lovejoy, PMCT, Yaş Tahmini

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