CT scan images for sex discrimination – a preliminary study on Gujarati population

•Sex estimation is one of the most important aspects to be found to identify skeletal remains.•The skull is one of the most important parts of the skeleton for sex estimation.•Study of CT scan images can replace the traditional method of study carried out on dry skulls.•The present study examined volume rendered CT images of 143 subjects of Gujarati origin.•Different functions were obtained to produce discriminant scores for the present study.•Different functions were obtained to produce discriminant scores having the reasonable degree of accuracy.

ObjectivesSex estimation of skeletal remains can lead the forensic anthropologist to the identification of the remains. Skull is one of the most encountered skeletal remains. Different craniofacial parameters have differing capacities to estimate the sex.Materials and methodsIn present study, volume rendered CT scan images of 143 adult living patients (66 female and 77 male) were studied. The criteria for inclusion were Gujarati origin and patients without fracture of the skull. The cranio-facial parameters studied were maximum frontal breadth, minimum frontal breadth, maximum cranial length, morphological facial height, nasion–prosthion length, bizygomatic breadth and bimaxillary breadth.ResultsAccuracy of sex estimation ranges from 61.3% to 88.7%, making the maximum cranial length and bizygomatic breadth best individual parameters with accuracy of 78.2%. The highest accuracy of 88.7% was obtained with combination of maximum cranial length, bimaxillary breadth and morphological facial height.ConclusionDiscriminant function for identification of sex was obtained with satisfactory accuracy rates for the parameters under study. It indicates that the skulls of Gujarati population are dimorphic enough to identify the sex of unknown skulls obtained from crime scene.