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Image analysis of pubic bone for sex determination in a computed tomography sample

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Abstract

Radiology has demonstrated great utility for sex determination, but most studies are based in metrical and morphological methods in order to perform an identification profile. It is presented an easy image analysis-based method aimed to demonstrate the relationship between the bony tissue ultrastructure and sex by using several grey level histogram variables obtained from computed tomography images using sagittal sections of the pubic symphysis surface and the body of the pubis. The CT sample consisted of 169 hospital DICOM archives of known sex and age. The multivariate binary logistic regression models calculated showed reliabilities for sex determination between 87.4 and 95.8 %, with a high intra and inter-observer agreement. The suggested method is not only considered useful to perform an identification profile during Virtopsy, but even for application in further studies in order to attach a quantitative correlation for tissue ultrastructure characteristics without complex and expensive methods beyond image analysis.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Marta, the one that inspired this study; Fernando Navarro, great friend and forensic anthropologist for his wise advices; and to the Central Health Services of Castilla La Mancha (SESCAM) for providing samples when no one else was willing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Forensic Pathology Department, Institute of Legal Medicine of Huelva, Av. de Alemania nº 7, CP 21004, Huelva, Spain

    Manuel López-Alcaraz & Pedro Manuel Garamendi González

  2. Laboratory of Physical and Forensic Anthropology, Department of Legal Medicine, Toxicology and Physical Anthropology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Granada, Granada, Spain

    Inmaculada Alemán Aguilera

  3. Department of Legal Medicine, Toxicology and Physical Anthropology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Granada, Granada, Spain

    Miguel Botella López

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  1. Manuel López-Alcaraz
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  2. Pedro Manuel Garamendi González
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  3. Inmaculada Alemán Aguilera
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  4. Miguel Botella López
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Correspondence to Manuel López-Alcaraz.

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López-Alcaraz, M., Garamendi González, P.M., Alemán Aguilera, I. et al. Image analysis of pubic bone for sex determination in a computed tomography sample. Int J Legal Med 127, 1145–1155 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-013-0900-1

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