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Updated: Apr 8, 2026

Scanning Skeletal Remains for Bone Mineral Density in Forensic Contexts
Published on: January 29, 2018
Sex determination using discriminant analysis of upper and lower extremity bones: New approach using the volume and
U-Young Lee1, In-Beom Kim1, Dai-Soon Kwak1
1Department of Anatomy/Catholic Institute for Applied Anatomy, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, 222 Banpo-daero Seocho-gu, Seoul 137-701, Republic of Korea.
Abstract:
This study used 110 CT images taken from donated Korean cadavers to create 3-D models of the following upper and lower limb bones: the clavicle, scapula, humerus, radius, ulna, hip bone (os coxa), femur, patella (knee cap), tibia, talus, and calcaneus. In addition, the bone volume and surface area were calculated to determine sex differences using discriminant analysis. Significant sex differences were found in all bones with respect to volume and surface area (p<0.01). The order of volume was the same in females and males (femur>hip bone>tibia>humerus>scapula), although the order of surface area was different. The largest surface area in men was the femur and in women was the hip bone (p<0.01). An interesting finding of this study was that the ulna is the bone with the highest accuracy for sex determination (94%). When using the surface area of multiple bones, the maximum accuracy (99.4%) was achieved. The equation was as follows: (discriminant equation of surface area; female<0
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