CT scan images for sex discrimination – a preliminary study on Gujarati population

Abstract

Abstract Objectives Sex estimation of skeletal remains can lead the forensic anthropologist to the identification of the remains. Skull is one of the most encountered skeletal remains. Different craniofacial parameters have differing capacities to estimate the sex. Materials and methods In present study, volume rendered CT scan images of 143 adult living patients (66 female and 77 male) were studied. The criteria for inclusion were Gujarati origin and patients without fracture of the skull. The cranio-facial parameters studied were maximum frontal breadth, minimum frontal breadth, maximum cranial length, morphological facial height, nasion–prosthion length, bizygomatic breadth and bimaxillary breadth. Results Accuracy of sex estimation ranges from 61.3% to 88.7%, making the maximum cranial length and bizygomatic breadth best individual parameters with accuracy of 78.2%. The highest accuracy of 88.7% was obtained with combination of maximum cranial length, bimaxillary breadth and morphological facial height. Conclusion Discriminant function for identification of sex was obtained with satisfactory accuracy rates for the parameters under study. It indicates that the skulls of Gujarati population are dimorphic enough to identify the sex of unknown skulls obtained from crime scene.