title: High-resolution flat-panel volumetric CT images show no correlation between human age and sagittal suture obliteration--independent of sex.
abstract: This study investigated whether digital, high-resolution CT-images of the internal human sagittal suture structure include information that enables a novel method of age at death (aad) determination. To accomplish this, coronal, flat-panel-based volumetric computed tomography (eXplore Locus Ultra scanner) images were automatically analyzed by a software implementation of an algorithm that determines user independent whether a suture is open or closed. 29,205 images of the local vicinity of the sagittal suture of 164 males and 85 females of European descent were investigated separately for both sexes. We used conditional probabilities and a chi(2)-test to investigate whether there is a correlation between aad and suture obliteration or not. The computer-aided analysis enables us to handle huge volumes of data that could not otherwise be analyzed within a reasonable time frame. The implemented algorithm ensured a strongly reproducible, reliable, accurate, and fast differentiation between closed and open sutures. The evaluation of various statistical parameters suggests that there is no reason to assume a correlation between age and suture closure--with equal findings for both sexes. Therefore, we conclude that determination of aad based on the evaluation of sagittal suture obliteration is not possible. This agrees well - thus unsatisfactorily - with the recent literature.
authors.affiliation: Universitätsklinikum Giessen und Marburg, Abteilung Neuroradiologie, Klinikstrasse 29, D-35385 Giessen, Germany. martin.obert@radiol.med.uni-giessen.de
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Obert
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schulte-Geers
authors.forename: René L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Schilling
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Harth
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kläver
authors.forename: Horst
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Traupe
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ramsthaler
authors.forename: Marcel A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Verhoff
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000465:Algorithms; D003393:Cranial Sutures / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000254:growth & development; D005260:Female; D018732:Forensic Anthropology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*