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Contribution of magnetic resonance imaging of the wrist and hand to forensic age assessment

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Abstract

Forensic age estimation of living individuals is a controversial subject because of the imprecision of the available methods which leads to errors. Moreover, young persons are exposed to radiation, without diagnostic or therapeutic advantage. Recently, non-invasive imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have been studied in this context. The aim of this work was to study if the analysis of wrist/hand MRI enabled determination of whether a subject was 18 years old. Two observers retrospectively analyzed metaphyseal–epiphyseal fusion of the distal epiphysis of the radius and the ulna and the base of the first metacarpus in wrist/hand MRI of living people between 9 and 25 years of age. A three-stage scoring system was applied to all epiphyses. Intra- and inter-observer variability was excellent. Staging of the distal radial epiphysis allowed the subjects to be correctly evaluated with regard to the 18-year-old threshold in more than 85 % of cases. Analysis of the radius alone was as good as the analysis of the three epiphyses together. Evaluation of the metaphyseal–epiphyseal fusion of the distal radius in wrist MRI gave good results in forensic age estimation. Wrist MRI could meet ethical expectations with regard to the link between the benefit and risk of practicing radiologic examination on individuals in this context.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire d’Anthropobiologie AMIS, UMR 5288 CNRS, Université Paul Sabatier, 37 allées Jules Guesde, 31073, Toulouse Cedex 3, France

    Jeanne Serin, Camille Rérolle, Fabrice Dedouit, Norbert Telmon, Frédéric Savall & Pauline Saint-Martin

  2. Institut Médico-Légal, CHRU Tours, 37044, Tours, Cedex 9, France

    Jeanne Serin, Camille Rérolle & Pauline Saint-Martin

  3. Service de Médecine Légale, CHU Toulouse-Rangueil, Avenue du Professeur Jean Poulhès, 31043, Toulouse, Cedex 4, France

    Jeanne Serin, Fabrice Dedouit, Norbert Telmon & Frédéric Savall

  4. Pôle d’Imagerie Médicale, CHRU Tours, 37044, Tours, Cedex 9, France

    Julien Pucheux

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  1. Jeanne Serin
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  2. Camille Rérolle
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  3. Julien Pucheux
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  4. Fabrice Dedouit
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  5. Norbert Telmon
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  6. Frédéric Savall
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  7. Pauline Saint-Martin
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Correspondence to Jeanne Serin.

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Serin, J., Rérolle, C., Pucheux, J. et al. Contribution of magnetic resonance imaging of the wrist and hand to forensic age assessment. Int J Legal Med 130, 1121–1128 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-016-1362-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-016-1362-z

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