Forensic medicine and 3D paleo-anthropology
Description:
3D imaging is more and more used in forensic medicine. CT-Scan and MRI modalities allow to perform a "virtual autopsy" [Dirnhofer et al., 2006] in order to analyze the causes of death or to identify a body.
When the forensic physician has to infer the sex, the age or the ethnicity, he uses the same methods than in physical anthropology. And when there are only bone remains, the techniques are identical to paleo-anthropology ones.
Research in 3D paleo-anthropology and 3D forensic medicine are complementary: in the first case, many techniques have been developed and tested as Geometric Morphometrics and but the second case, it is possible to correlate results inferred from the skeletal remains with data from the surrounding tissues, the environment or from living patients.
For example, we can define the following research topics which would benefit from a close collaboration between forensic physicians and paleo-anthropologists:
- assessment of the sex based on anatomical features. For example, [Uysal et al., 2005] showed that 3D-CT measurements of the Foramen Magnum can lead to a sex determination accuracy rate of 81%.
- assessment of the age based on anatomical features. Morphological changes of the articular surfaces of some anatomical structures can be a good age indicators for adult remains. For example, the variation in the face of the pubic symphysis is a common region analyzed for age determination [Telmon et al., 2005].
- assessement of the ethnicity based on morphometry. For example, it is proposed in [Dean et al., 1998] to define and compare average models of the skull w.r.t. to the ethnicity.
Another concern which is common to 3D forensic medicine and 3D paleo-anthropology is face reconstruction, i.e. inferring the shape of the face based only on the skull remains. In forensic medicine, the goal is to identify skeletal remains whereas paleo-anthropology application is to present a reconstitution of our ancestors in museographic exhibitions. Since a decade, some automatized methods have been proposed and we can see, for example, a 3D reconstruction of the Tautavel Man in [Subsol & Quatrehomme, 2005] or of the face of Gibraltar 2 (Devil's Tower) Neanderthal child in [CAP].
Related presentations:
Some other references:
- [Dean et al., 1998] D. Dean, F.L. Bookstein, S. Koneru, J.H. Lee, J. Kamath, C.B. Cutting, M. Hans, J. Goldberg. "Average African American three-dimensional computed tomography skull images: the potential clinical importance of ethnicity and sex". Journal of Craniofacial Surgery 1998 Jul;9(4):348-58; discussion 359 (abstract).
- [Dirnhofer et al., 2006] R. Dirnhofer, C. Jackowski, P. Vock, K. Potter, M.J. Thali. "VIRTOPSY: Minimally Invasive, Imaging-guided Virtual Autopsy". RadioGraphics 2006;26:1305-1333 (text in pdf).
- [Subsol & Quatrehomme, 2005] G. Subsol, G. Quatrehomme. "Automatic 3D Facial Reconstruction by Feature-Based Registration of a Reference Head". M. Marks, J. Clement (eds.), Computer-Graphic Facial Reconstruction, Chapter 5, 2005. Academic Press.
- [Telmon et al., 2005] N. Telmon, A. Gaston, P. Chemla, A. Blanc, F. Joffre, D. Rougé."Application of the Suchey-Brooks method to three-dimensional imaging of the pubic symphysis". Journal of Forensic Sciences 2005 May;50(3):507-12 (text in pdf).
- [Uysal et al., 2005] S. Uysal, D. Gokharman, M. Kacar, I. Tuncbilek, U. Kosa. "Estimation of sex by 3D CT measurements of the foramen magnum". Journal of Forensic Sciences 2005 Nov;50(6):1310-4 (text in pdf).
Interested research teams
Laboratory of Anthropobiology, FRE2960, Toulouse, France
Contact: Fabrice Dedouit
