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Estimation of sex using morphometric measurements performed on cranial computerized tomography scans

  • MUSCULOSKELETAL RADIOLOGY
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Abstract

We aimed to evaluate the usefulness of morphometric measurements performed on cranial computerized tomography (CT) images for the estimation of sex. A retrospective study was performed in the radiology department of a tertiary care center using data collected from cranial CT scans of 616 Caucasian cases (307 women, 309 men) with an average age of 44.70 ± 16.43. The parameters under investigation consisted of maximum cranial length (MCL), minimum frontal breadth, bi-zygomatic breadth (BZB), parietal chord, maximum cranial breadth, bi-mastoid diameter (BIM) and the length of cranial base. Any statistically significant difference in terms of these parameters was found between males and females. In our series, women were remarkably older than men (47.56 ± 15.87 vs. 41.39 ± 16.43; p < 0.001). We observed that there was a statistically significant difference between males and females concerning all morphometric measurements and males displayed higher values in terms of all parameters (p < 0.001, for all). The variables with the most successful performance for discrimination of gender were BZB (89.2%), MCL (87.4%) and BIM (84.8%). The concomitant use of these morphometric measurements seems to improve the accuracy of sex estimation. We suggest that morphometric measurements performed on cranial CT images can be useful for the estimation of sex.

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Acknowledgements

The authors declare no competing interest. No financial support was received for this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylül University, Izmir, Turkey

    Yasin Ertug Cekdemir, Uygar Mutlu & Ali Balci

  2. Department of Forensic Medicine, Council of Forensic Medicine, Manisa, Turkey

    Gokce Karaman

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  1. Yasin Ertug Cekdemir
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  2. Uygar Mutlu
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  3. Gokce Karaman
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  4. Ali Balci
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Correspondence to Yasin Ertug Cekdemir.

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This study is a retrospective study. Ethical approval is not required dependent on the law and the national ethical guidelines in our country.

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Cekdemir, Y.E., Mutlu, U., Karaman, G. et al. Estimation of sex using morphometric measurements performed on cranial computerized tomography scans. Radiol med 126, 306–315 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11547-020-01233-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11547-020-01233-8

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