Reliability of Craniofacial Superimposition Using Three-Dimension Skull Model.
Craniofacial superimposition is a technique potentially useful for the identification of unidentified human remains if a photo of the missing person is available. We have tested the reliability of the 2D-3D computer-aided nonautomatic superimposition techniques. Three-dimension laser scans of five skulls and ten photographs were overlaid with an imaging software. The resulting superimpositions were evaluated using three methods: craniofacial landmarks, morphological features, and a combination of the two. A 3D model of each skull without its mandible was tested for superimposition; we also evaluated whether separating skulls by sex would increase correct identifications. Results show that the landmark method employing the entire skull is the more reliable one (5/5 correct identifications, 40% false positives [FP]), regardless of sex. However, the persistence of a high percentage of FP in all the methods evaluated indicates that these methods are unreliable for positive identification although the landmark-only method could be useful for exclusion.
Laboratorio di Antropologia e Odontologia Forense, Sezione di Medicina Legale e delle Assicurazioni, Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche per la Salute, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Mangiagalli 37, 20133, Milano, Italy.
Daniel
D
Gaudio
Laboratorio di Antropologia e Odontologia Forense, Sezione di Medicina Legale e delle Assicurazioni, Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche per la Salute, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Mangiagalli 37, 20133, Milano, Italy.
Lara
L
Olivieri
Laboratorio di Antropologia e Odontologia Forense, Sezione di Medicina Legale e delle Assicurazioni, Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche per la Salute, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Mangiagalli 37, 20133, Milano, Italy.
Danilo
D
De Angelis
Laboratorio di Antropologia e Odontologia Forense, Sezione di Medicina Legale e delle Assicurazioni, Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche per la Salute, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Mangiagalli 37, 20133, Milano, Italy.
Pasquale
P
Poppa
UOS di medicina Legale, ULSS 6, viale Rodolfi 37, 36100, Vicenza, Italy.
Andrea
A
Galassi
Laboratorio di Antropologia e Odontologia Forense, Sezione di Medicina Legale e delle Assicurazioni, Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche per la Salute, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Mangiagalli 37, 20133, Milano, Italy.
Cristina
C
Cattaneo
D059925:Anatomic Landmarks; D005145:Face / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D018732:Forensic Anthropology / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D007834:Lasers; D008297:Male; D010781:Photography; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012886:Skull / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D012984:Software
craniofacial superimposition; forensic anthropology; forensic science; laser scanner; personal identification; skull-photo overlay; three-dimension (3D) skull model