Virtual CT morphometry of lower limb long bones for estimation of the sex and stature using postmortem Japanese adult data in forensic identification

Abstract

The application of computed tomography (CT) is useful for the documentation of whole-body anatomical data on routine autopsy, virtual reconstruction of skeletal structure, objective measurements, and reassessment by repetitive analyses. In addition, CT data processing facilitates volumetric and radiographic density analyses. Furthermore, a recently developed automated analysis system markedly improved the performance and accuracy of three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction. The present study investigated virtual CT morphometry of lower limb long bones, including the femur, tibia, fibula, and first metatarsus, to estimate the sex and stature using postmortem CT data of forensic autopsy cases of Japanese over 19 years of age (total n = 259, 150 males and 109 females). Bone mass volumes, lengths, and total CT attenuation values of bilateral femurs, tibias, and fibulas correlated with the stature; however, the mean CT attenuation (HU) values showed age-dependent decreases. Correlations with the stature were similar for the lengths and mass volumes of the femur, tibia, and fibula (r = 0.77-0.85) but were higher for the mass volume of the first metatarsus (r = 0.77 for right and r = 0.58 for left). In addition, the ratio of the bone volume to the length of each bone showed the most significant sex-related differences (males > females with accuracy of 75.8-98.1 %). These findings indicate the usefulness of virtual CT morphometry of individual lower limb long bones, including volumetry, to estimate the sex and stature in identification.