title: Using pre- and post-surgical foot and ankle radiographs for identification.
abstract: An evaluation of the effect of surgical intervention on foot and ankle radiographic comparisons was performed. In this study, 34 sets of pre-surgical ("premortem") and post-surgical ("postmortem") foot and ankle radiographs were retrospectively evaluated simulating a postmortem identification. In each radiographic set, the films were separated by a surgical event to reproduce the effects of an alteration in the anatomy. The radiographs included both matches and mismatches. This study also presents a numerical representation of the reliability of a radiographic match following a surgical procedure. Results indicate that surgical intervention with subsequent healing does not preclude positive identification in foot and ankle radiographic comparisons.
authors.affiliation: Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Jeremy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rich
authors.forename: Nancy E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Tatarek
authors.forename: Robert H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Powers
authors.forename: B G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Brogdon
authors.forename: Bradley J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: Dorothy E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Dean
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000842:Ankle / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D005528:Foot / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D018732:Forensic Anthropology / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D011859:Radiography; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors