Abstract
Objectives: sex determination and age estimation in forensic medicine are important for identification. In this study, the volume and dimensions of the maxillary and frontal sinuses derived from cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) images were measured, and their reliability in gender determination and age estimation was evaluated. Material and methods: CBCT of 240 patients, including 112 males and 128 females, were performed at 18 to 51 years old. The images were converted to DICOM format and entered the semi-automated segmentation software ITK-SNAP 3.6.0 beta that measured the volume, length, width and height of each of the frontal sinus (FS), right maxillary sinus (RMS) and left maxillary sinus (LMS). Discriminant analysis was used to determine the reliability of the dimensions and volume of the frontal and maxillary sinuses in determining gender and age estimation. Also, the Pearson correlation coefficient was used to measure the relationship between quantitative and age variables. Result: The dimension and volume of FS ,RMS and LMS were greater in males than in females significantly (p-value <0/05). By measuring the volume and dimensions of these sinuses, we can correctly identify individuals with 80 %. These parameters do not difference significantly at different ages. Conclusion: The volume and dimensions of FS, RMS and LMS derived from CBCT images have a high ability to determine the gender. Therefore, these variables can be used to determine the sex of cadavers that are not known in forensic medicine. Using these parameters can not estimate the age with a high confidence level