Sex identification from foramen magnum using computed tomography scanning in a sample of Peshawar population

Abstract

Objective: To identify the gender of an individual from foramen magnum (FM) computed tomography (CT).

Material and methods: This retrospective study was conducted on 150 CT scans of participants. The inclusion criteria were age range from 18 to 70 years, both genders, Pakistani nationals, and CT images of high quality. CT scans that were of low quality, having artifact due to metallic objects, and pathological lesion in skull base region were excluded. Length and width was measured from these scans. And area of foramen magnum was calculated by using formula. Student t test was used to compare the dimension of FM between males and females.

Results: The mean age was 40.24±14.89 year. The males were more (n=78, 52%) than females (n=72, 48%). The mean length of FM in males was 37.52±3.89mm and in females was 33.71±3.94mm and the difference was very highly statistically significant (P<0.001).  The mean width of FM in males was 32.23±4.81 mm and was more than the females (30.86±4.799mm) statistically (P=0.042). Similarly the mean area of FM in males was higher (948.52±165.99 mm²) than females (815.76±151.52mm²) statistically (P<0.001).

Conclusion:  Sexual dimorphism exists in dimension of FM. The mean length, width and area of FM are higher in males than females. We established mean values for dimension of FM for both genders which can help in gender identification.