Projects

ABSTRACT Introduction: Radiological examination of bone structures of human remains provides a means of positive identification. Frontal sinuses once developed do not change their size and shape and the morphology is different in each individuals. When we consider more than one anatomic structure like nasal septum pattern, in addition to the frontal sinus, for identification, the reliability increases. With the above background this study was undertaken to determine the different patterns of frontal sinus and nasal septum and to study the possibility of combined use of frontal sinus and nasal septum patterns in personal identification and gender determination. Materials and methods: Postero-anterior (PA) view radiographs (digital) of the skull of 50 individuals above the age of 20 years were analyzed. Radiographs were taken with PLANMECA PROLINE XC digital X-ray machine. Out of 50 individuals frontal sinus was absent in 5 individuals and they were excluded from the study. Radiographic images of the frontal sinuses and nasal septum were processed using a computer aided drafting program. These radiographs were used to evaluate frontal sinus area (right and left sides), bilateral asymmetry, superiority of sinus, outline of upper border of the right and left sinuses, and partial septa. The frontal sinus pattern of each individual was formulated as a code number which were determined by arranging the class numbers in each classification item as serial numbers. To this code number, the nasal septum pattern (straight, deviation to right and left side, sigmoid and reverse sigmoid) was also added in the form of capital letters. Results: Out of 45 individuals analyzed 43 (95.5%) showed unique patterns of frontal sinus. When nasal septum patterns were added the result was 100%.The statistical values for gender determination was not significant (P value > 0.05). Conclusion: Combined use of frontal sinus and nasal septum pattern using Postero-anterior view of skull is an effective method for personal identification and is not a reliable method for gender determination.