Title

Estimation of Age from Hyoid Bone – is it a Viable Option?

Authors

Ranjit Immanuel James, Shankar Bakkannavar, Anita S

 Abstract

Introduction: Identification of an individual is crucial from womb to tomb. It has always been a challenging task. Estimation of age after death from the adult skeleton is one of the most important objectives in medico-legal cases. Among the various parameters available, skeletal age determination is considered the best. This study attempts to assess the reliability of age estimation based on the ossification of hyoid bone as an indicator of chronological age. Methodology: This prospective observational study was conducted in the mortuary of the tertiary care Teaching Hospital in South India from October 2014 to September 2016. This study includes 100 hyoid bones from male and female cadavers of known age, brought for medico-legal autopsy. The hyoid bone was removed, cleaned and subjected to X-ray. For estimating the age of the person the categories such as non-fusion, initiation of fusion, partial fusion and complete fusion were used. Results: The mean age for bilateral complete fusion of greater cornua with the body of hyoid bone is 50.44 + 10.28 years. The mean age for bilateral complete fusion of greater cornua with the body of hyoid bone in males is 52.77 + 10.9 years. The mean age for bilateral complete fusion of greater cornua with the body of hyoid bone in females is 48.84 + 9.82 years. Conclusion: The sample size was small for establishing a concrete conclusion. Future studies with a larger sample size need to be considered for more reliable results.

 Keywords

Age estimation, Hyoid bone, Identification, Ossification.

 DOI