Determining gender by taking measurements from magnetic resonance images of the patella.

BACKGROUND: A key step in making a positive identification in forensic medicine is the establishment of a biological profile, which involves determining factors such as gender, age, ancestry, and stature. The goal of this study was to determine if gender could be established by taking various measurements of the patella taken from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images and analyzing the variations by gender.

METHODS: The sample group consisted of 220 patients (110 male and 110 female) whose patella were measured using MRI images of their left knee. Reasons for exclusion were any previous surgery, patella bipartite variation, any fracture in the patella due to trauma or findings of mass or infection. Three measurements - transverse length (TP), craniocaudal length (CC) and anteroposterior length (APP) - were taken off T2-weighted axial and sagittal MRI scans. The program SPSS (Version 21.0) was used to make a descriptive analysis, independent t-test and discriminative analysis.

RESULTS: It was found possible to determine gender with an accuracy rate of 91% for females and 87% for males. Since measurements were made individually the accuracy for gender estimation is lower than that seen in other methods.

CONCLUSION: The findings are important in that they show that it is possible to determine gender with a high degree of accuracy using just a few measurements taken from the patella.