Estimation of Sex from Patella Measurements in Sichuan Han Population Based on CT-Three-Dimensional Volume Reconstruction Technique / 法医学杂志

Objective To estimate sex based on patella measurements of Sichuan Han population by computed tomography three-dimensional volume reconstruction technique, and to explore the application value of patella in sex estimation. Methods CT three-dimensional volume reconstruction images of patella of 250 individuals were collected, the four measurement indicators including patellar length, patellar width, patellar thickness, and patellar volume were measured. The t-test was used to determine measurement indicators with sex differences. Fisher discriminant analysis was used to establish the sex discriminant function and the prediction accuracy was calculated by leave-one-out cross validation. Results The sex differences of the four measurement indicators had a statistical significance （P<0.05）. The accuracy rate of the univariate discriminant function established by the patellar length was the highest （82.0%）. The accuracy rates of the all indicators discriminant function and the stepwise discriminant function were 80.4% and 81.6%, respectively. Conclusion It is feasible and accurate to estimate sex of Sichuan Han population by patella measurements with CT three-dimensional volume reconstruction technique. The method may be used as an alternative for sex estimation of Sichuan Han population when other bones with higher accuracy are not available.

Bone development trend in the knee joint of Tibetan teenagers in Aba Prefecture of Sichuan Province / 法医学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To discuss bone development trend in the knee joint of Tibetan teenagers in Sichuan province and to effectively update the database for estimating the living age of Tibetan teenagers in terms of bone age of the knee joint.@*METHODS@#Radiographs including epiphysis of distal femur, proximal tibia and proximal fibula were taken from 483 Tibetan male and female teenagers aged from 14 to 19 years old in Aba prefecture of Sichuan province in order to observe epiphyseal growth situation. The descriptive data of the epiphyseal closure ages of these teenagers' knee joints were statistically analyzed by SPSS 16.0 software.@*RESULTS@#The distal femur epiphyseal closure occurred earliest, while the proximal fibula epiphyseal closure occurred latest. The epiphyseal growth of knee joints of females occurred about one year earlier than that of males.@*CONCLUSION@#The forensic information and data related to Tibetan teenagers' bone age identification should be updated regularly. These results provide potential value for the practice of forensic medicine, anthropology and clinical medicine.