PALATINE BONE ANALYSIS FOR SEXING HUMAN CRANIA: A COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY STUDY OF 500 EGYPTIANS FROM MINIA GOVERNORATE

: Introduction & objectives: The preliminary phase in the forensic investigation is sex determination. The hard palate attained significance in sexing cranium due to its nature, which is resistant and secluded location, especially in cases of burns and explosions, so the objective of this study is the analysis of palatine MDCT imaging for sexual dimorphism in a sample from the Egyptian population using the following measurements TPVD-M2, O-SNP, PWPA, and AWPA. Results: The results showed that there is a slight increase in measurements of males than females, but only PWPA and O-SNP had significant differences between both. Single regression analysis showed a low accuracy of O-SNP and PWPA ( 55 % & 58 %) respectively, using multiple discriminant function analysis didn't increase the accuracy as it reported an accuracy of 55.4%. ROC curve analysis for male sex prediction reported an accuracy of 58% with O-SNP and 59.4% with PAWA. Conclusion: In conclusion, palatine measurements obtained from CT images have a low value in sex determination in an Egyptian sample from the Minia governorate.