title: The digital atlas of skeletal maturity by Gilsanz and Ratib: a suitable alternative for age estimation of living individuals in criminal proceedings?
abstract: As a collection of radiographic standards of the normal hand development with a homogenous degree of maturity of all skeletal elements, the digital atlas of skeletal maturity by Gilsanz and Ratib combines the possibilities of digital imaging with the principle of a conventional atlas method. The present paper analyses the forensic applicability of skeletal age assessment according to Gilsanz and Ratib to age estimation in criminal proceedings. For this, the hand X-rays of 180 children and adolescents aged 10-18 years old were examined retrospectively. For the entire age range, the minima and maxima, the mean values and standard deviations as well as the medians with upper and lower quartiles are specified by sex. For the legally relevant age groups from 14 to 18 years, there is a risk of overestimation of the chronological age of up to 7.2 months in females. The method of Gilsanz and Ratib is therefore only suitable to forensic age estimation in criminal proceedings to a limited extent.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Rechtsmedizin, Röntgenstrasse 23, 48149 Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: Inna
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Nitz
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schulz
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tsokos
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schmeling
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000365:Age Determination by Skeleton / Q000379:methods*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005554:Forensic Medicine / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D050276:Hand Bones / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D012984:Software
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