article · Italian Journal of Anatomy and Embryology
In South Africa, identifying human remains is often complicated by skeletal fragmentation, which frequently damages standard diagnostic bones such as the skull and pelvis. This research evaluated whether the ventral sacrum can reliably determine biological sex in contemporary black South Africans. Using retrospective computed tomography scans of 51 adults, researchers analysed linear dimensions alongside three-dimensional surface shape landmarks. The findings revealed that males have significantly greater sacral height than females, alongside distinct sex-based variations in overall shape. While linear dimensions predicted sex with 72.55 per cent accuracy, three-dimensional shape coordinates reached an accuracy of 94.12 per cent. Sacral height alone achieved an area under the curve of 0.73 with a classification cut-off threshold of 103.41 millimetres. Consequently, the ventral sacrum serves as a dependable anatomical alternative for forensic sex estimation when other pelvic elements are degraded.
Forensic teams regularly struggle to identify heavily damaged human remains when fragile bones such as the skull or pelvis are fragmented or lost. Because the sacrum is frequently well preserved at forensic scenes, establishing highly accurate, population-specific anatomical benchmarks enables authorities to identify unknown individuals more reliably and assist forensic investigations.
This research provides applied morphological metrics that could directly inform forensic anthropology toolkits and virtual autopsy procedures used by forensic pathologists and the South African Police Service. While the 3D landmarking and discriminant functions demonstrate high accuracy in a clinical CT sample, the work remains at an applied research stage that requires further integration into standardized forensic software before routine field adoption.
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With rising numbers of unidentified bodies in South Africa, the South African Police Service (SAPS) requires effective skeletal identification techniques. While the skull and pelvis are highly dimorphic, taphonomic fragmentation often renders them unavailable at forensic scenes. The sacrum is frequently well-preserved and exhibits population specific sexual dimorphism. This study aimed to evaluate the dimensions and three-dimensional (3D) shape of the ventral sacrum in a contemporary South African sample. Retrospective Computer Tomography (CT) scans of 51 black South African adults (26 females, 25 males) were obtained from Steve Biko Academic hospital. Utilising MeVisLab © (v.3.0.2), the sacra were isolated via threshold-based segmentation, and 3D landmarks were placed on the ventral sacral surface. Linear dimensions were calculated and evaluated using descriptive statistics and discriminant function analysis (DFA), while shape variations were assessed using a multivariate analysis and a two-group permutation test. Black South African males exhibited a significantly greater sacral height than females (p=0.004). The permutation test confirmed significant sex-based variation in overall ventral sacral shape (p= 0.005). DFA models predicted sex with a moderate 72.55% accuracy based on linear dimensions, but achieved an exceptional 94.12% accuracy utilising 3D shape coordinates. ROC analysis substantiated the predictive value of the ventral linear metrics (AUC = 0.73; 95% CI: 0.60 – 0.85; p = 0.004) for sacral height, yielding an optimal cut-off value of 103.41 mm (Sensitivity: 76 %, Specificity: 65.38 %). Sexual dimorphism significantly influences both the metrics and morphology of the ventral sacrum of black South Africans. Due to these distinct variations, the ventral sacral surface, particularly its 3D shape, provides a highly reliable alternative for accurate forensic sex estimation.
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DOI: 10.36253/ijae-17404
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