Morphometric Evaluation of Frontal Sinus in Relation to Gender - a Forensic Study

Aims and objectives: To determining the gender of individuals by mathematical method using measurement of the frontal sinus. Materials and Methods: The study group will be comprised of 140 subjects in the age group of 2050 years which consists of 70 males and 70 females drawn from OPD of K. D. Dental College and Hospital, Mathura. Detailed clinical examination will be carried out on all patient enrolled for study, after obtaining the informed consent and adhering to the ethical protocol. Digital Posterioanterior radiograph will be taken using standard technique for the evaluation of frontal sinus. Radiographic digital images will be imported to the Auto CAD 2013 software, and later area (height×width×area) of the frontal sinus will be evaluated. Results and Conclusion: The mean values of the frontal sinus Height, width and area are greater in males. Right frontal sinus is larger than left frontal sinus in both the sex. The mathematical model based on logistic regression analysis gives an concordance index for gender determination of 64.29%. The areas of frontal sinus and logistic regression technique proves to be useful in determination of gender. 1 2 3 4 Neha, Vinay Mohan, Jyothi S. Kumar, Shruti C. Kumar 1 2 3 4 Postgraduate student, Reader, Professor & Head, Postgraduate student, Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Kanti Devi Dental College & Hospital, Mathura, 281006 Introduction In modern life many disasters, accidents, natural calamities are often occurred & identification of living or dead persons in such incidents are tough task since the field of forensic come in to exist to deal with identification of a person for medico legal purpose.[1] Dental identification has been regarded as one of the primary identifiers.[2] Skull is composed of hard tissue and is the best preserved part of skeleton after death, hence in many cases it is the only available part for forensic examination.[3] In establishing the identity of sex from a defleshed skull, lateral a cephalograms and PA radiograph assumes a predominant role. [3] Radiographs in this regard provide a more precise, easier, accurate and reproducible method of sex determination by linear and angular measurements, morphometric and anthropometric methods. [3] The frontal sinus is the one that is of most interest and significance in forensic identification due to its irregular shape and because of the individual characteristics which makes the frontal bone unique for every individual, just as with fingerprints. [4] The aim of the present study was undertaken to judge the reliability of mathematical method based on logistic regression analysis, capable of determining the gender of individuals from measuring the frontal sinus morphology in the Digital Postero-anterior radiograph. Materials and Methods The present study was conducted in the Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology at Kanti Devi Dental College and Hospital, Mathura.The study approval was taken by the Institutional ethical committee and informed consent was taken from the patients who participated in the study. The study group comprised of 140 subjects in the age group of 20-50 years which included 70 males and 70 females which were drawn and subjected to Digital Postero-anterior radiographs which were taken from ProMax II Digital panoramic X-ray unit (Planmeca, Helsinki, Finland) with HCL computer with Pentium D CPU 2.66 GHz 512 RAM and monitor, Planmeca Dimaxis Pro 4.1.4 software to evaluate the size of the frontal sinus, the study subjects were considered based some inclusion and exclusion criteria. The interpretation of digital postero-anterior radiograph was MORPHOMETRIC EVALUATION OF FRONTAL SINUS IN RELATION TO GENDERA FORENSIC STUDY. Journal of Dental Sciences University