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Virtual anthropology: useful radiological tools for age assessment in clinical forensic medicine and thanatology

  • ETHICS AND FORENSIC RADIOLOGY
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Abstract

Virtual anthropology consists of the introduction of modern slice imaging to biological and forensic anthropology. Thanks to this non-invasive scientific revolution, some classifications and staging systems, first based on dry bone analysis, can be applied to cadavers with no need for specific preparation, as well as to living persons. Estimation of bone and dental age is one of the possibilities offered by radiology. Biological age can be estimated in clinical forensic medicine as well as in living persons. Virtual anthropology may also help the forensic pathologist to estimate a deceased person’s age at death, which together with sex, geographical origin and stature, is one of the important features determining a biological profile used in reconstructive identification. For this forensic purpose, the radiological tools used are multislice computed tomography and, more recently, X-ray free imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasound investigations. We present and discuss the value of these investigations for age estimation in anthropology.

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Acknowledgments

Sincere appreciation is expressed to Nina Crowte for her assistance in manuscript preparation.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Service de Médecine Légale, Hôpital de Rangueil, CHU Toulouse-Rangueil, 1 avenue du Professeur Jean Poulhès, TSA 50032, 31059, Toulouse Cedex 9, France

    Fabrice Dedouit, Frédéric Savall, Daniel Rougé & Norbert Telmon

  2. Laboratoire d’Anthropobiologie–AMIS UMR 5288, 37 allées Jules Guesde, 31073, Toulouse Cedex, France

    Fabrice Dedouit, Pauline Saint-Martin, Fatima-Zohra Mokrane, Frédéric Savall, Eric Crubézy, Daniel Rougé & Norbert Telmon

  3. Service de Radiologie, CHU Toulouse-Rangueil, 1 avenue Professeur Jean Poulhès, 31059, Toulouse Cedex 9, France

    Fabrice Dedouit, Fatima-Zohra Mokrane & Hervé Rousseau

  4. Service de Médecine Légale, Hôpital Trousseau, Avenue de la République, 37170, Chambray-Lès-Tours, France

    Pauline Saint-Martin

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  1. Fabrice Dedouit
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Correspondence to Fabrice Dedouit.

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Dedouit, F., Saint-Martin, P., Mokrane, FZ. et al. Virtual anthropology: useful radiological tools for age assessment in clinical forensic medicine and thanatology. Radiol med 120, 874–886 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11547-015-0525-1

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