Modina S C, Andreis M E, Moioli M, Di Giancamillo M
Department of Health, Animal Science and Food Safety - Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy.
Division of Clinical Radiology, Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, Vetsuisse-Faculty, University of Bern, Switzerland.
Forensic Sci Int. 2019 Apr;297:8-15. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2019.01.003. Epub 2019 Jan 29.
Age estimation in growing dogs is crucial not only in clinical practice but increasingly so in forensic practice as well. In the last few years, it has assumed great importance for correctly identifying the age of puppies illegally imported to Italy as well as to other European countries. Puppies are, in fact, transported when they are too young to be moved, which can cause both animal/public health and animal welfare issues. Therefore, the movement of animals within the European Community is governed by strict rules, and veterinarians are often required to evaluate the age of the imported puppies in a forensic scenario as accurately as possible. To date, X-ray evaluation of limb bones ossification centers (OCs) is generally accepted as a valid tool to assess the age of puppies. A wealth of information exists on this topic but it is not always easily available. This work is a historical review of the existing literature and proposes two tables illustrating the timelines of limb OCs appearance and closure, coming to terms with forensic requests to evaluate the age of a puppy. The timelines reported indicate the need to improve methodology to enhance the accuracy and to reduce the error in age estimation.
在成长中的犬类中进行年龄估计不仅在临床实践中至关重要，在法医实践中也日益重要。在过去几年里，准确识别非法进口到意大利以及其他欧洲国家的幼犬年龄变得极为重要。事实上，幼犬在太小不宜移动时就被运输，这可能引发动物/公共卫生以及动物福利问题。因此，欧盟内部动物的流动受到严格规定的管控，兽医常常需要在法医场景中尽可能准确地评估进口幼犬的年龄。迄今为止，对四肢骨骼骨化中心（OCs）进行X射线评估通常被认为是评估幼犬年龄的有效工具。关于这个主题有大量信息，但并不总是容易获取。这项工作是对现有文献的历史性回顾，并提出两个表格来说明四肢OCs出现和闭合的时间线，以满足法医评估幼犬年龄的要求。所报告的时间线表明需要改进方法，以提高年龄估计的准确性并减少误差。
