title: Assessment of bone age based on morphometric study of the upper end of the humerus.
abstract: Assessment of changes in the spongy bone structure of the upper end of the humerus is one of the common methods of age estimation. This method was devised many years ago (1894) and has never been verified in an objective numerical testing. We projected an objective morphometric method assessment of the upper end of the humerus. The study was carried out on humeri from cadavers of 88 men and 84 women. The surface area of atrophy of the spongy structure (medullary cavity) was calculated on the longitudinal section of the humerus. A new morphometric method was applied, which allowed numerical presentation of results. The results of the study show a lack of statistical correlation between atrophy of the spongy structure within the upper end of the humerus and the chronological age. Therefore, it can be concluded that the assessment of humerus structure should be omitted in the forensic medical age estimation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, Medical University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland. leszek.zydek@gmail.com
authors.forename: Leszek
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zydek
authors.forename: Maciej
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Barzdo
authors.forename: Ewa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Meissner
authors.forename: Jaroslaw
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Berent
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000365:Age Determination by Skeleton / Q000379:methods*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001284:Atrophy; D002102:Cadaver; D005260:Female; D018732:Forensic Anthropology; D006801:Humans; D006811:Humerus / Q000473:pathology*; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult