Gender determination from hand bones length and volume using multidetector computed tomography: A study in Egyptian people

Abstract

Determination of sex from incomplete skeletal and decomposing human remains is particularly important in personal identification. Measurements of hand bones length have been shown to be sexually dimorphic in many nationalities. Since the validity of discriminant function equation in sex determination is population specific; the purpose of this study is to assess sex from the hand bones length in a contemporary Egyptian population using data derived from both multiplanar (two-dimensional) and volumetric (three-dimensional) reformatted images of multidetector CT to derive special equations for sex determination in Egyptians. One hundred and twenty two Egyptians (60 males and 62 females) with mean age of 24.1 ± 4.4 were included. An independent samples student’s t-test and discriminant function analysis were done. Results indicate existence of length differences between the sexes. Males presented with significantly greater mean values than females for distal phalanges of all fingers, 1st and 3rd proximal phalanges and all metacarpal bones measured by 2D images. Metacarpals, proximal phalanges and distal phalanges are sexually dimorphic with accuracies of 80%, 76.6% and 80% respectively. Three-dimensional volume-rendered reconstructed images of metacarpals give more accurate results (92.9%) in correct sex determination when compared with 2D images. From the forensic standpoint, the usefulness of this study rests on the identification of sex among Egyptian based on length and volume differences observed on MDCT examination.