Heinrich Andreas, Hubig Michael, Teichgräber Ulf, Mall Gita
Department of Radiology, Jena University Hospital- Friedrich Schiller University, Am Klinikum 1, 07747, Jena, Germany.
Institute of Forensic Medicine, Jena University Hospital- Friedrich Schiller University, Am Klinikum 1, 07747, Jena, Germany.
Int J Legal Med. 2025 May 24. doi: 10.1007/s00414-025-03528-9.
The maxillary sinus plays an important role in the forensic identification of unknown deceased individuals. This study aimed to evaluate whether matching postmortem computed tomography (CT) images from virtual autopsies with antemortem CT examinations from a clinical database enables reliable identification using computer vision (CV) techniques. From ten virtual autopsies, CT images of the maxillary sinus were selected for comparison against 853 antemortem CT examinations from 738 individuals. A total of 60,255 antemortem CT slices underwent image processing, CV feature extraction, and were stored in an antemortem CV database. The number of matching points between CV features of the postmortem image and the antemortem reference image served as an indicator of identification accuracy. The identification rate was 50% (5/10) at rank 1 (with the sought identity having the highest number of matching points), 80% (8/10) at rank 2, and 100% (10/10) at rank 7 among the 738 potential identities. Challenges were observed when the antemortem reference CT examination depicted only parts of the maxillary sinus or when injuries were present. Additionally, postmortem imaging should closely replicate antemortem imaging standards to maximize the number of CV matching points. In conclusion, the findings suggest that it is feasible to identify individuals using postmortem CT images from virtual autopsies in combination with a clinical database. However, postmortem imaging should ideally adhere to clinical imaging standards to achieve more CV matching points for the sought identity with the antemortem reference.
上颌窦在不明身份死者的法医鉴定中起着重要作用。本研究旨在评估将虚拟尸检的死后计算机断层扫描（CT）图像与临床数据库中的生前CT检查进行匹配，是否能够使用计算机视觉（CV）技术实现可靠的身份识别。从十次虚拟尸检中，选择上颌窦的CT图像与来自738名个体的853次生前CT检查进行比较。总共60255张生前CT切片经过图像处理、CV特征提取，并存储在生前CV数据库中。死后图像与生前参考图像的CV特征之间的匹配点数用作识别准确性的指标。在738个潜在身份中，排名第1时（所寻找的身份具有最高匹配点数）识别率为50%（5/10），排名第2时为80%（8/10），排名第7时为100%（10/10）。当生前参考CT检查仅显示上颌窦的部分或存在损伤时，会出现挑战。此外，死后成像应紧密复制生前成像标准，以最大化CV匹配点数。总之，研究结果表明，结合临床数据库使用虚拟尸检的死后CT图像来识别个体是可行的。然而，死后成像理想情况下应遵循临床成像标准，以便为所寻找的身份与生前参考实现更多的CV匹配点。
