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Human Identification via Lateral Patella Radiographs: A Validation Study ,
Author(s) -
Niespodziewanski Emily,
Stephan Carl N.,
Guyomarc'h Pierre,
Fenton Todd W.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of forensic sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.715
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1556-4029
pISSN - 0022-1198
DOI - 10.1111/1556-4029.12898
Subject(s) - radiography , orthodontics , identification (biology) , patella , forensic anthropology , cadaver , forensic identification , matching (statistics) , medicine , artificial intelligence , computer science , anatomy , radiology , biology , pathology , botany , genetics , sociology , anthropology
This research examines the utility of patella outline shape for matching 3D scans of patellae to knee radiographs using elliptical Fourier analysis and subjective methods of human visual comparison of patellae across radiographs for identification purposes. Repeat radiographs were captured of cadaver's knees for visual comparison before patellae were extracted and skeletonized for quantitative comparisons. Quantitative methods provided significant narrowing down of the candidate pool to just a few potential matches (<5% of original sample), while the human analysts showed high capacity for correctly matching radiographs, irrespective of educational level (positive predictive value = 99.8%). The successful computerized matching based on a single quantified patella trait (outline shape) helps explain the potency achieved by subjective visual examination. This work adds to a growing body of studies demonstrating the value of single isolated infracranial bones for human identification via radiographic comparison.