Saravanan, S (2013) Estimation of age at death by counting number of Osteons from the sternal Rib. Masters thesis, Madras Medical College, Chennai.
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Abstract
INTRODUCTION : Prior to opine about the cause of death, time since death and sometimes manner of death, it is the first and foremost task for the autopsy surgeon, to establish the identity of the corpse. Identification is difficult, when the body is decomposed. Furthermore, it is more complicated one, in case of mummified or skeletonized bodies. When the skeletonized body is subjected for autopsy, the first step is what forensic anthropologists say “doing the big four”—identifying age, sex, stature and race. Identity or identification is defined as the recognition of the individuality of a person, either live or dead. It is vital among both the cases. The results of trials, in court of law, often depend upon the exact identity of the deceased. Other important situation for identity is mass disasters in natural calamities like earth quake, bomb blast or conflagration of a crowded building. Where ever the skeletal remains have been recovered, they should be submitted for experts’ opinion. The most elemental is to distinguish human from non-human remains. Experts who can make contributions towards solving identity include pathologists, physicians, anatomists, physical anthropologist and dentists. For the living, the identity is much easier than for the dead one. For the living, the following features are useful for the identity: Photography, Handwriting, Speech, Finger Prints etc. To identify the dead one, we have to look the following demographic features: Age, Sex, Stature, Race and Religion, Communal Characters, Stature, Hair, Dentition and dental records, Tattoo marks, Moles, Scars, Finger, Foot and Lip Prints, DNA Profile and Brain Finger Printing4. Dental records are used by the developed countries for identity. Personal identification is the traditional goal in the recovery of human skeletal remains. These identification processes may be carried out through several levels viz. anatomical, biological and circumstantial. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES : 1. To arrive at the regression formula for assessing the age, based on number of osteons in the sternal rib. 2. To estimate the age at the time of death by using the regression formula. MATERIALS AND METHODS : The bone samples, used in this study composed of sections which have been taken from the shaft region near the anterior ends of fourth sternal ribs of 41 South Indian Population. After getting proper permission, concurrence and clearance well in advance, from the Institute Ethical Committee, the samples were selected randomly from the autopsied bodies with known age group ranging from 20 years to 50 years of age, at the Institute of Forensic Medicine, Madras Medical College, Chennai – 3, Tamil Nadu, South India. The materials are mostly from the male bodies and few from the female bodies. Since the autopsies for female body usually less in number, our samples also have similar less number of female samples. Inclusion and exclusion criteria: In this study, the inclusion criterion was the given age ranging from 20 years and to below 50 years of age. The exclusion criterion was the age group of below 20 years and above to 50 years. The sample materials were taken from the already known age group. Samples with suspicious pathological condition were positively omitted from the study. As mentioned earlier, the age ranged between 20 years and 50 years with a mean age of 34 years. The range of age for male gender was between 22 and 48 with mean age of 28.22 years. The range of age for female gender was between 20 and 42 with mean age of 29.66 years. There was a good representation of all the categories of age. CONCLUSION : This study illustrates the estimation of age at death by counting number of osteons in the rib from the age of 20 to 48 years. It was proved that the number of osteons is increasing when the individual gets aging as per all the previous studies. In this study, the age of the individual is able to estimate maximum up to 48 years of age. Here, we could not able to determine whether the graph linear would go on increasing continuously or may decrease after some age. If we increase our samples to the maximum extent of life, it would be able to predict the pattern of number of osteon. The available r2 value in this study was 0.892, which is well correlated with the similar previous studies. But, because of the lesser availability of female samples (n = 6), the differences between the osteon count in both the genders could not be predictable. Because of less destructive nature of this method, for better results, the study may be continued with multiple variables instead of single one. It is also recommended that, usage of gross change in rib phase analysis in association with histological analysis, for best yields.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Masters) |
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| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Estimation of age ; death ; counting number of Osteons ; sternal Rib. |
| Subjects: | MEDICAL > Forensic Medicine |
| Depositing User: | Subramani R |
| Date Deposited: | 27 Feb 2018 16:24 |
| Last Modified: | 27 Feb 2018 16:24 |
| URI: | http://repository-tnmgrmu.ac.in/id/eprint/5892 |
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