Abstract

Background

Age estimation has paramount importance for the forensic practitioner. Depending on the timing of fusion, the spheno-occipital synchondrosis will be open during childhood and then later fuse during adulthood. Since there have been a lot of inconsistencies in terms of fusion degree, that can be attributed to variability in population or methodology. The aim of the present study was to determine the age of beginning of the spheno-occipital synchondrosis in the South Indian population using computed tomography.

Results

The study reported a mean age of 8.38 ± 1.21 for males and 8.2 ± 1.16 for females in the stage 0 (completely open) category. Spheno-occipital synchondrosis began to fuse (stage 1) at the mean age of 11.64 ± 1.19 for males and 10.21 ± 1.19 for females.

Conclusions

Spheno-occipital synchondrosis begins to close at the age of less than 15 years in males. Similarly, for females, the spheno-occipital synchondrosis begins to close at the age of less than 14 years. Also, a strong sexual dimorphism is seen as each stage of synchondrosis and starts earlier in females compared to males. In addition, the study also showed the degree of fusion increasing with age. This estimation will not only help in forensic and anthropological studies but also in assessing craniofacial growth in orthodontics.

Details

Title
Age estimation by spheno-occipital synchondrosis fusion in South Indian population using computed tomography
Author
Nayak, Rajesh 1 ; Panakkal, Nitika C. 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; T, Visakh 3 

1  Kasturba Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Department of Radiodiagnosis, Mangalore, India (GRID:grid.465547.1) (ISNI:0000 0004 1765 924X) 
2  Manipal College of Health Professions, Manipal Academy of Higher education, Department of Medical Imaging Technology, Manipal, India (GRID:grid.411639.8) (ISNI:0000 0001 0571 5193) 
3  Manipal College of Health Professions, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Department of Medical Imaging Technology, Manipal, India (GRID:grid.411639.8) (ISNI:0000 0001 0571 5193) 
Pages
29
Publication year
2023
Publication date
Dec 2023
Publisher
Springer Nature B.V.
ISSN
2090-536X
e-ISSN
2090-5939
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s41935-023-00348-z
ProQuest document ID
2822902678
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2023. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.