Estimation of body height from spinal length measurements using post-mortem computed tomographic images

Area of Science:

• Forensic Radiology
• Anthropometry
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Post-mortem computed tomography (PMCT) aids in determining cause of death and identifying disaster victims.
• Assessing body stature is crucial for corpse identification, yet post-mortem imaging studies on anthropometry are limited.
• A need exists for reliable methods to estimate cadaveric height from PMCT data.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the correlation between cadaveric spine length measurements from PMCT and autopsy length (AL).
• To develop a regression formula for estimating corpse body height using PMCT data in a Malaysian population.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 107 cadavers undergoing conventional autopsy and PMCT.
• Five spinal measurements were taken from PMCT: cervical length (CL), thoracic length (TL), lumbosacral length (LS), total column length (TCL), and ellipse line (EL).
• Linear regression analysis was used to correlate PMCT measurements with autopsy length (AL).

Main Results:

• A significant linear relationship was observed between thoracic length (TL) and lumbosacral length (LS) with autopsy length (AL).
• The derived linear regression formula is: 48.163 + 2.458 (TL) + 2.246 (LS).
• TL and LS showed a stronger correlation with AL compared to other spinal parameters.

Conclusions:

• The developed linear regression formula using PMCT thoracic and lumbar spine lengths provides accurate cadaveric height estimation.
• This study presents the first linear regression formula for cadaveric height assessment solely based on post-mortem CT spine measurements.
• The findings can enhance forensic identification procedures through non-invasive imaging techniques.