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Assessment of the accuracy of three-dimensional manual craniofacial reconstruction: a series of 25 controlled cases

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Abstract

The aim of this work was to estimate the accuracy of craniofacial reconstruction (CFR), from a series of 25 controlled cases. Three protocols of blind CFRs (exhibiting an increasing complexity from A to C) were assessed in this paper, allowing comparison of the CFR with the actual face of the deceased. The whole results showed that an excellent, or good, to middle resemblance (between the blind CFR and the actual face of the subject) was reached in 9 out of 25 cases, but the success gradually increased from the A to the C protocol of CFR, reaching six cases out of eight in the latter. Statistical comparison of measurements (between the blind CFR and the actual face) was also achieved, revealing that some anthropological distances were constantly underestimated or overestimated. This experiment shows that a thorough anthropological, odontological, and X-ray analysis is indispensable before performing a CFR, and these encouraging results justify further efforts of research in this field.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Médecine Légale et Anthropologie médico-légale, Faculté de Médecine, GEPITOS, Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis, CNRS K 2943, 28 Avenue de Valombrose, 06100, Nice, France

    Gérald Quatrehomme & Véronique Alunni-Perret

  2. Service de Chirurgie plastique, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice, Faculté de Médecine, GEPITOS, Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis, CNRS K 2943, 28 Avenue de Valombrose, 06100, Nice, France

    Thierry Balaguer

  3. Département de Biostatistique, Informatique médicale, et Technologies de Communication, Faculté de Médecine, 28 Avenue de Valombrose, 06100, Nice, France

    Pascal Staccini

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  1. Gérald Quatrehomme
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  2. Thierry Balaguer
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  3. Pascal Staccini
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  4. Véronique Alunni-Perret
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Correspondence to Gérald Quatrehomme.

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Quatrehomme, G., Balaguer, T., Staccini, P. et al. Assessment of the accuracy of three-dimensional manual craniofacial reconstruction: a series of 25 controlled cases. Int J Legal Med 121, 469–475 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-007-0197-z

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