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3D quantitative analysis of early decomposition changes of the human face

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Abstract

Decomposition of the human body and human face is influenced, among other things, by environmental conditions. The early decomposition changes that modify the appearance of the face may hamper the recognition and identification of the deceased. Quantitative assessment of those changes may provide important information for forensic identification. This report presents a pilot 3D quantitative approach of tracking early decomposition changes of a single cadaver in controlled environmental conditions by summarizing the change with weekly morphological descriptions. The root mean square (RMS) value was used to evaluate the changes of the face after death. The results showed a high correlation (r = 0.863) between the measured RMS and the time since death. RMS values of each scan are presented, as well as the average weekly RMS values. The quantification of decomposition changes could improve the accuracy of antemortem facial approximation and potentially could allow the direct comparisons of antemortem and postmortem 3D scans.

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Acknowledgements

Research received funding by the Department of Biomedical Sciences for Health, Università degli Studi di Milano (15-6-3016000-205).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LABANOF, Laboratorio di Antropologia e Odontologia Forense, Dipartimento di Morfologia e Scienze Biomediche, Sezione di Medicina Legale, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Mangiagalli 37, 20133, Milan, Italy

    Zuzana Caplova, Pasquale Poppa, Marco Cummaudo, Zuzana Obertova & Cristina Cattaneo

  2. Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche per la Salute, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Mangiagalli 31, 20133, Milan, Italy

    Zuzana Caplova, Daniele Maria Gibelli & Chiarella Sforza

Authors
  1. Zuzana Caplova
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  2. Daniele Maria Gibelli
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  3. Pasquale Poppa
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  4. Marco Cummaudo
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  5. Zuzana Obertova
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  6. Chiarella Sforza
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  7. Cristina Cattaneo
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Correspondence to Zuzana Caplova.

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Caplova, Z., Gibelli, D.M., Poppa, P. et al. 3D quantitative analysis of early decomposition changes of the human face. Int J Legal Med 132, 649–653 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-017-1647-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-017-1647-x

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