Estimating Age on the Autopsy Table: A Postmortem Study of Forensic Investigations
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52206/jsmc.2024.14.4.995Abstract
Background: Forensic investigation are sensitive and needs to be accurate before presentation to the court of law like determination of exact age on autopsy. Establishing identification of unknown individual amid criminal investigation is vital to hold the actual perpetrator accountable. The first and foremost in such investigation is the determination of age.
Objectives: To estimate the age of a deceased within a ±10 years range by quantitatively assessing cranial suture closure using standardized techniques, aiming to complete data collection and analysis within 9 months.
Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study to analyze the degree of suture closure (by Acsádi Nemeskéri scoring scale) of the cranial vault of 90 human cadavers by utilizing non-probability consecutive convenient sampling technique from January 15, 2016 to September 30, 2016 in the mortuary of the department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology of King Edward Medical University, Lahore, Pakistan.
Results: The study evaluated the degree of suture closure showing complete closure across all the subsections of the sagittal suture with complete closure showing that the age was less than 60 years in deceased individuals. Complete closure of more than two third of the area of the coronal and lambdoid suture suggested that the age was somewhere between 51 to 60 years.
Conclusion: The study concluded that the age can be estimated from the status of fusion of the cranial sutures of the vault with certain degree of accuracy. The closure was evident as incipient closure in thirties to advanced closure or closure in progress in forties. Complete closure was observed after 60 years of age in all the sutures.
Keywords: Age, Cranium, Forensic Investigation, Forensic Autopsy, Skull, Suture, Vault.
References
Santosh KC, Pradeep N, Goel V, Ranjan R, Pandey E, Shukla PK, et al. Machine learning techniques for human age and gender identification based on teeth X-ray images. Journal of Healthcare Engineering. 2022 Jan 4;2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/9812937
Parchake S, Kasote A, Tumram NK, Meshram M. Macroscopic Cranial Suture Closure in An Adult Population: Is It Reliable for Estimating Age? Arab Journal of Forensic Sciences & Forensic Medicine. 2021 Jun 1;3(1):17-30. DOI: https://doi.org/10.26735/IJJM2816
Ruengdit S, Case DT, Mahakkanukrauh P. Cranial suture closure as an age indicator: A review. Forensic science international. 2020 Feb 1;307:110111. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2019.110111
Chawla H, Shankar S, Tyagi A, Panchal J. Cranial Vault Suture Obliteration in Relation to Age: An Autopsy-Based Observational Study. Cureus. 2023 May 31;15(5). DOI: https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.39759
Fan F, Tu M, Li R, Dai X, Zhang K, Chen H, et al. Age estimation by multidetector computed tomography of cranial sutures in Chinese male adults. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 2020 Mar;171(3):550-8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23998
Buzdar ZA, Khan MM. An Autopsy based unaided Eye Study of Lambdoid Suture of Skullthe Science of Forensic Estimation of Age. Pakistan Journal of Medical & Health Sciences. 2022;16(12):206-9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.53350/pjmhs20221612206
Lopatin O, Barszcz M, Bolechala F, Wozniak KJ. The fusion of ossification centersA comparative review of radiographic and other imaging modalities of age assessment in living groups of children, adolescents, and young adults. Legal Medicine. 2023 Mar 1;61:102185. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.legalmed.2022.102185
Kalsi GA, Singh AM, Harish D. Macroscopic study of temporoparietal suture closure at autopsy for estimation of age. J Clin Diagnostic Res. 2022 Jan 1;16:1-4. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7860/JCDR/2022/50232.15845
Madon NF, Lai PS, Subramaniam K, Singh MK, Nor FM, Siew SF. Age estimation by cranial suture using postmortem computed tomography images among Malaysian. Adli Týp Dergisi. 2023 Apr 1;37(1):5-11. 2725862 (dergipark.org.tr)
Gutiérrez-Tiznado P, López-Lázaro S, Fonseca GM. Age estimation by evaluation of obliteration of the palatine sutures: a scoping review. Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology. 2023 May 13:1-8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-023-00645-y
Acsadi G, Nemeskeri J. History of Human Lifespan and Mortality. Budapest: Academiai; 1970.
Shi-Wen QI, Meng TU, Fei FA. Age estimation in han adults by thin-layer ct scan of cranial sutures. Journal of Forensic Medicine. 2020 Aug 28;36(4):507. DOI: https://doi.org/10.12116/j.issn.1004-5619.2020.04.015
Mirza M, Buzdar ZA, Serwer A, Fazli MA, Munir F. Gender-Based Analysis of the Lambdoid Cranial Suture among Human Cadavers Presented for Postmortem Examination at King Edward Medical University, Lahore. Medical Forum Monthly 2024 Jan 30;35(1): 37-40 DOI: https://doi.org/10.60110/medforum.350108
Upreti A. Determination of age from fusion of skull vault sutures. Int J Forensic Med. 2019;1(1):04-6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.33545/27074447.2019.v1.i1a.2
Zanzrukiya KM, Kumar L, Bhalodiya AA. A Cross Sectional Discriptive Study of Analysis of Lambdoid and Squamous Sutures Closure by Ct Scan for Age Estimation. Indian Journal of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology. 2021 Jan 1;15(1). DOI: https://doi.org/10.37506/ijfmt.v15i1.13384
Tiwari G, Thakur A, Lalwani M. Determination of age from the cadaver's skull-evidence from a cross-sectional study from central India. Indian J Forensic Community Med. 2018 Jul; 5:173-6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18231/2394-6776.2018.0039
Malik AR, Buzdar Z, Zaman F. Macroscopic Study of the Sagittal SutureA tool for estimation of Age. Pakistan journal of medical and health sciences. 2019 Apr;13(2):357-61.
Buzdar ZA, Shahid M, Zahra K, Fazli MA, Munir J. Study of Sexual Dimorphism in the Closure of Sagittal SutureA Postmortem Study. Pakistan journal of medical and health sciences. 2021; 15(9):2319-22 DOI: https://doi.org/10.53350/pjmhs211592319
Khandare SV, Bhise SS, Shinde AB. Age estimation from cranial suturesa Postmortem study. International Journal of Healthcare and Biomedical Research. 2015 Apr;3(3):192-202.
Additional Files
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 The authors retain the copyrights. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g. in institutional repositories or on their website), as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as greater citation of published work.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Readers may “Share-copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format” and “Adapt-remix, transform, and build upon the material”. The readers must give appropriate credit to the source of the material and indicate if changes were made to the material. Readers may not use the material for commercial purpose. The readers may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
