Measurements of maxillary sinus volume and dimensions by computed tomography scan for gender determination

Humans are sexually dimorphic. Identification of remnants of skeletal and decomposing parts of human is one of the most difficult skills in forensic medicine. Forensic anthropologists often receive an incomplete skeleton, which are recovered fragmented but some bones are often recovered intact e.g. maxilla. However, typical identification methods may be inconclusive, especially when certain extreme post-mortem changes have developed. The aim of this study is to compare the size and volume of the maxillary sinus between males and females by CT Scan for gender determination. 102 cases (61 males & 41 females) were studied from Gwalior region. The sinus measurements were taken from series of CT Head images on DICOM viewing software using inbuilt electronic caliper. Independent sample t-test & discriminant function analysis were done using Graph pad prism & Word Excel Sheet windows 2007 version. The dimensions & volume of the maxillary sinus of male was found to be larger than those of female & this difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05) for sinus AP & Volume. 65.16% of males & 68.9% of females were sexed correctly & the overall percentage for sexing maxillary sinuses correctly was 67.03% & sinus AP was the best discriminant parameter with an overall accuracy of 69.81%. We can conclude that CT measurements of maxillary sinus dimensions & volume may be useful for identification of gender in forensic anthropology to some extent when other methods are inconclusive.