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Identification from chest x-rays: reliability of bone density patterns of the humerus
Romina Ciaffi1, Danilo De Angelis, Pier Federico Gherardini
1Labanof, Istituto di Medicina Legale, University of Milan, Via Mangiagalli 37, 20133 Milano, Italy. ciaffi@med.uniroma2.it
Journal of Forensic Sciences
|February 18, 2010
Summary
Bone density patterns from thoracic X-rays are unreliable for identifying individuals. Current methods show high error rates in matching radiographs, making them unsafe for identification purposes.
Area of Science:
- Forensic Anthropology
- Radiology
- Biometrics
Background:
- Bone trabecular patterns have been explored for individual identification.
- Previous studies suggested potential in using bone density patterns.
Purpose of the Study:
- To critically review and test the Kahana and Hiss method for identification using bone trabecular patterns.
- To evaluate the reliability of proximal humerus bone density patterns from thoracic X-rays for identification.
Main Methods:
- Generated numerical files representing grayscale values of bone trabecular patterns.
- Performed pairwise comparisons using the correlation coefficient.
- Tested the method on humerus radiographs from thoracic X-rays.
Main Results:
- The method yielded nearly 30% incorrect exclusions.
- The method resulted in 50% misidentifications.
- Significant error rates indicate unreliability for identification.
Conclusions:
- Quantifying identification through bone density patterns of the proximal humerus from thoracic X-rays is currently not feasible.
- The use of trabecular density patterns from these specific radiograms as an identification method should be avoided due to high error rates.
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