Apport de la radiographie du second métacarpien pour la détermination de l'âge osseux

Abstract

Purpose. Age determination based on bone maturate evaluation is routinely used in forensic science and anthropology. The aim of this study was to purpose a quantitative method of age determination on the second metacarpal in a population of children and adolescents by measurements of the epiphyso-metaphysal ratio (REM) (epiphysal diameter divided by metaphysal diameter) and the cortical index (IC). Material and methods. We evaluated the REM and the IC on 417 hand radiographs of 2 from aged 20-year-old children. Results. The correlation between REM and age for males (R2=0.62; p<0.001) and females (R2=0.68; p<0.001) was a good and significant. The correlation between IC and age for males (R2=0.34; p<0.001) and females (R2=0.30; p<0.001) was also significant but poor. Conclusion. Measurement of IC should not be used for age assessment. Measurement of REM is simple, reproducible and poor X-ray exposing technique. It should be very useful for age determination. © Éditions Françaises de Radiologie, 2008 Édité par Elsevier Masson SAS.