Kanchan Tanuj, Krishan Kewal, Aparna K R, Shyamsundar S
Department of Forensic Medicine, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, India.
Med Sci Law. 2013 Jan;53(1):33-9. doi: 10.1258/msl.2012.011092. Epub 2012 Sep 5.
Analysis of fingerprints and palm prints at the crime scene is vital to identify the suspect and establish a crime. Dermatoglyphics can even be valuable in identification of a dismembered hand during medicolegal investigations to establish the identity of an individual in cases of mass disasters/mass homicides.
The present research studies the variation in ridge density in different areas of the palm prints among men and women. The four prominent areas were analysed on the palm prints that included central prominent part of the thenar eminence (P1), hypothenar region; inner to the proximal axial triradius (P2), medial mount; proximal to the triradius of the second digit (P3) and lateral mount; proximal to the triradius of the fifth digit (P4).
The mean palm print ridge density was significantly higher among women than men in all the designated areas in both hands except for the P3 area in the right hand. Statistically significant differences were observed in the palm print ridge density between the different palm areas in men and women in right and left hands. No significant right-left differences were observed in the palm print ridge density in any of the four areas of palm prints among men. In women, right-left differences were observed only in the P3 and P4 areas of palm prints.
This preliminary study indicates that though the palm print ridge density is a sexually dimorphic variable, its utility for estimation of sex in forensic identification may be limited owing to significant overlapping of values.
对犯罪现场的指纹和掌纹进行分析对于识别嫌疑人及认定犯罪至关重要。在法医学调查中，皮纹学对于识别断掌甚至在大规模灾难/大规模杀人案件中确定个人身份都可能具有重要价值。
本研究探讨了男性和女性掌纹不同区域嵴密度的差异。对掌纹上四个突出区域进行了分析，包括大鱼际隆起的中央突出部分（P1）、小鱼际区域；近端轴三角点内侧（P2）、内侧隆起；第二指三角点近端（P3）和外侧隆起；第五指三角点近端（P4）。
除右手的P3区域外，在所有指定区域中，女性双手的平均掌纹嵴密度均显著高于男性。在男性和女性的右手和左手不同掌区之间，掌纹嵴密度存在统计学上的显著差异。在男性的四个掌纹区域中，任何一个区域的掌纹嵴密度均未观察到显著的左右差异。在女性中，仅在掌纹的P3和P4区域观察到左右差异。
这项初步研究表明，尽管掌纹嵴密度是一个具有性别差异的变量，但由于数值存在显著重叠，其在法医鉴定中用于估计性别的效用可能有限。
