Determination of Sex: Interest of Frontal Sinus 3D Reconstructions

Abstract

Frontal sinuses (FSs) have been studied in radiology, anthropology, and forensic anthropology. This study aimed to determine whether it was possible to predict the age and sex of an individual using FS volume. Sixty-nine anonymized CT scans were imported to MIMICS 10.01(®) software (Materialise N.V.), and each FS volume was calculated in mm(3) . There was an absence of significant difference between right and left FS volume (p = 0.173) and an absence of correlation between age and FS volume (Pearson's test; p = 0.705). Sexual dimorphism was significantly different (p = 0.001). However, the most discriminant datum for determining sex was found to be the total FS volume (sum of an individual's right and left FS volumes) with linear discriminant Fisher's function coefficients of -2.759 for the male group and -1.275 for the female group. With this model, 72.5% of our sample was correctly classified according to sex.

Maxillary sinus volume: new physiopathological data in fungal ball genesis? A retrospective study

“…None of the etiopathogenic hypothesis about fungal ball development can explain this female predominance. Paranasal sinus volume is smaller in women due to the smaller size of the skull and, more generally, of the skeleton . Our finding regarding the development of fungal ball in the smallest MS in the FB group may go some way to explaining the female preponderance of fungal ball.…”

“…We performed a monocentric retrospective study on 125 CT scans of patients referred to our hospital. The protocol to determine the MS volume has been previously published . We ensured that our two groups showed no statistical difference concerning age and sex.…”

“…The use of the morphometric approach, with its rigorous, repeatable and reproducible methodology using 3D‐reconstruction, is more objective than morphological descriptions of the bone by visual analogy …”

“…Development of reliable tools to obtain 3D reconstructions of anatomical structures has greatly improved the scope of biometric analysis . We aimed to apply biometric methods in order to research a possible link between sinus volume and development of fungal ball.…”

Extension of the frontal sinus into the roof of the optic canal: a cadaveric case report

“…Studies have shown that left frontal sinus is larger compared to the right in both sexes [25,30]. These gender differences were demonstrated in a frontal sinus CT-scan 3D reconstruction study which possibly can predict sex with 72.5 % accuracy and suggested to be an important tool for sex determination in forensic medicine [22]. Furthermore, it has been shown that every individual has a distinct frontal sinus outline which could be used for personal identification in forensic contexts [6].…”