title: Evaluation of the mastoid triangle for determining sexual dimorphism: A Saudi population based study.
abstract: Demographic assessment of skeletal remains in forensic investigations includes identification of sex. The present study aimed to develop population-specific, sex-discriminating anthropometric standards for the mastoid triangle of a documented Saudi population using computed tomographic (CT) images of the lateral aspect of the skull. The present study was performed on 206 CT images of a documented Saudi population of known sex and age. The clinical CT images of subjects visiting the Department of Radiology, Dammam Medical Complex, Dammam, Saudi Arabia (KSA) were evaluated to know the validity of the metric assessment of the mastoid triangle for identification of sex in a Saudi population. The distance between asterion to porion (AP), asterion to mastoidale (AM), porion to mastoidale (PM) were measured and the area of the mastoid triangle (AMT) was calculated using these measurements. Discriminant function procedure was used to analyze the data for sexual dimorphism. In conclusion, the results of the present study indicate that all the 3 sides of the mastoid triangle and AMT were sexually dimorphic in the sampled Saudi population with PM being the best individual parameter in discriminating sex with an accuracy of 69.4%. Whereas, all the parameters combined showed the highest accuracy (71.4%).
authors.affiliation: Forensic Medicine Division, Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, King Fahd Hospital of the University, University of Dammam, Dammam, Saudi Arabia (KSA).
authors.forename: Mohammed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Madadin
authors.affiliation: Forensic Medicine Division, Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, King Fahd Hospital of the University, University of Dammam, Dammam, Saudi Arabia (KSA). Electronic address: mangalore971@yahoo.co.in.
authors.forename: Ritesh G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Menezes
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Dammam Medical Complex, Dammam, Saudi Arabia (KSA).
authors.forename: Obaid
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Al Dhafeeri
authors.affiliation: Forensic Medicine Center, Dammam, Saudi Arabia (KSA).
authors.forename: Magdy A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Kharoshah
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Dammam Medical Complex, Dammam, Saudi Arabia (KSA).
authors.forename: Rana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Al Ibrahim
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, Father Muller Medical College, Mangalore, India.
authors.forename: K R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Nagesh
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Kecioren Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Selma Uysal
authors.initials: SU
authors.lastname: Ramadan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002508:Cephalometry; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D005260:Female; D018732:Forensic Anthropology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008416:Mastoid / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D061330:Multidetector Computed Tomography; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012529:Saudi Arabia; D054881:Sex Determination by Skeleton / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Forensic anthropology population data; Mastoid triangle; Saudi Arabia; Sex identification; Sexual dimorphism