Identification from Chest X‐Rays: Reliability of Bone Density Patterns of the Humerus* |
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| Authors: | Romina Ciaffi B.Sc. Danilo De Angelis Ph.D. D.D.S. Pier Federico Gherardini B.Sc. Giovanni Arcudi M.D. Renato Nessi M.D. Gian Paolo Cornalba M.D. Marco Grandi M.D. Cristina Cattaneo Ph.D. M.D. |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Labanof, Istituto di Medicina Legale, University of Milan, Via Mangiagalli 37, 20133 Milano, Italy.;2. Istituto di Medicina Legale, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Via Montpellier 1, 00133 Rome, Italy.;3. Centre for Molecular Bioinformatics, Department of Biology, University of Rome “Tor Vergata,” Via della Ricerca Scientifica, 00133 Rome, Italy.;4. Institute of Radiological Sciences, University of Milan, and S. Paolo Hospital, via Di Rudini 8, Milan, Italy. |
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| Abstract: | Abstract: A critical review of Kahana and Hiss’ study on identification from bone trabecular pattern and a test of their method conducted on the humerus are presented. Bone trabecular pattern was studied through the generation of a numerical file representing the gray scale. Using the correlation coefficient, several pairwise comparisons between numerical files were performed. The test gave nearly 30% of incorrect exclusions (the method did not recognize couples of radiographs belonging to the same subject) and 50% of misidentifications (the method recognized couples of radiographs belonging to different subjects, as belonging to the same subject); therefore, this research shows that at the present time, it is not possible to safely quantify identification through bone density patterns, of the proximal humerus taken from thoracic X‐rays. Thus, an “easy”—but dangerous—use of trabecular density patterns on this specific type of radiogram as an identification method should be currently avoided. |
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| Keywords: | forensic science forensic anthropology forensic radiology human identification trabecular bone pattern quantification thoracic radiograph humerus |
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