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Evaluation of distal tibial epiphysis and calcaneal epiphysis according to the Vieth method in 3.0 T magnetic resonance images: a pilot study

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Abstract

In forensic medicine practice, age estimation—both in living and deceased individuals—can be requested due to legal requirements. Radiologic methods, such as X-rays, for the estimation of bone age have been discussed, and ethical concerns have been raised. Given these factors, radiologic methods that reduce radiation exposure have gained importance and have become one of the research topics in forensic medicine. In this study, the MR images of the ankles of patients aged between 8 and 25 years, obtained with a 3.0 T MR scanner, were evaluated retrospectively according to the staging method defined by Vieth et al. In the study, the ankle MR images of 201 cases (83 females and 118 males) with sagittal T1-weighted turbo spin echo and T2-weighted short tau inversion recovery sequences were evaluated independently by two observers. According to the results of our study, the intra- and inter-observer agreements are at a very good level for both the distal tibial and calcaneal epiphyses. All the cases detected as stages 2, 3, and 4 in both sexes for both the distal tibial and the calcaneal epiphyses have been determined to be under the age of 18 years. According to the data obtained from our study, we consider that stage 5 for males and stage 6 for both sexes in the distal tibial epiphysis and stage 6 for males in the calcaneal epiphysis can be used to estimate the age of 15 years. As far as we know, our study is the first to evaluate ankle MR images with the method defined by Vieth et al. Further studies should be conducted to evaluate the validity of the procedure.

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Data availability

The ethics committee approval was obtained. Decision number and date are specified in the material and method section.

Abbreviations

AGFAD:

Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Forensische Altersdiagnostik

κ:

Unweighted kappa

κw:

Linear weighted kappa

CI:

Confidence interval

FOV:

Field-of-view

max:

Maximum

min:

Minimum

MR:

Magnetic resonance

MRI:

Magnetic resonance imaging

SD:

Standard deviation

SPIR:

Spectral pre-saturation with inversion recovery

STIR:

Short tau inversion recovery

TE:

Echo time

TR:

Repetition time

TI:

Time to inversion

TSE:

Turbo spin echo

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ada Basari OSGB, Sakarya, Turkey

    Murat Serdar Gurses

  2. Department of Radiology, Nevsehir State Hospital, Nevsehir, Turkey

    Busra Has

  3. Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Duzce University, Duzce, Turkey

    Hasan Baki Altinsoy

  4. Department of Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey

    Halit Sinan Suzen

Authors
  1. Murat Serdar Gurses
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  2. Busra Has
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  3. Hasan Baki Altinsoy
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  4. Halit Sinan Suzen
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Murat Serdar Gurses or Busra Has.

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Ethical approval

The study protocol was approved by the Duzce University Faculty of Medicine, the Non-Invasive Health Research Ethics Committee. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Written informed consent was not required for this study because was a retrospective study of anonymized images.

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Gurses, M.S., Has, B., Altinsoy, H.B. et al. Evaluation of distal tibial epiphysis and calcaneal epiphysis according to the Vieth method in 3.0 T magnetic resonance images: a pilot study. Int J Legal Med 137, 1181–1191 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-023-03010-4

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