Evaluation of the reliability and accuracy of femur measurements acquired from computed tomography images

Abstract

The biological profile holds notable significance within forensic assessments, as it plays a crucial role in determining biological identity. Moreover, it possesses substantial potential for applications in fields such as medical legal cases and forensic anthropology. Recent advancements in technology, specifically in the field of computed tomography, have enabled the accurate acquisition of detailed anatomical data from CT scans present in extensive medical repositories. The validity of new methods developed through the application of these techniques should therefore be analyzed. The primary intent of this research was to investigate the measurement accuracy obtained from CT-generated 3D femur models. To investigate the accuracy and reliability of measurements obtained from CT-generated 3D femur models, 3 different studies were conducted. A dataset comprising fifteen femurs was employed for analysis and measurement purposes. The obtained images were subsequently compared to twelve measurements acquired from the dry femora, enabling an assessment of the reliability and accuracy of both measurement protocols. To investigate the effect of CT parameters and soft tissue, 4 femurs were used. The analysis of twelve femur measurements obtained from the CT images processed with OsiriX software was carried out using Excel software packages and SPSS 24.0. From the results of this study, it can be observed that there is no discernible pattern regarding the reliability of image acquisition in any particular way. This implies that both dry femur bone and 3D virtual femur models can be used interchangeably for the 12 metric measurements used in this study, and at the same time, different scanning parameters or soft tissue influence for these measurements do not make a statistically significant difference.