Identification From Chest X-Rays: Reliability of Bone Density Patterns of the Humerus

• NCJ Number: 230731
• Journal: Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 55 Issue: 2 Dated: March 2010 Pages: 478-481
• Author(s): 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.
• Date Published: March 2010
• Length: 4 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Presented at the 20th Congress of International Academy of Legal Medicine, August 23–26, 2006, in Budapest, Hungary.

Annotation

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.

Abstract

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 percent of incorrect exclusions (the method did not recognize couples of radiographs belonging to the same subject) and 50 prcent 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 dangeroususe of trabecular density patterns on this specific type of radiogram as an identification method should be currently avoided. Tables, figures, and references (Published Abstract)