Is the Morphometry of Paranasal Sinuses Valid for Age and Gender Determination in a Sample of Egyptian Children Population?

Despite morphometric studies on different skeletal bones using CT for age and gender determination from maxillary and frontal sinuses were conducted in the world, there are no studies in Egypt for age and gender estimation from these parameters in children yet.
Background: Forensic identification in cases of mass disasters depends on many factors such as circumstantial evidence, fingerprints, dental records, DNA analysis and anthropological examinations.
Aim of the Work: This work aimed to assess the validity of frontal and maxillary sinuses for age and gender determination in a sample of Egyptian children population.
Methods: This study was conducted on 180 CT films belong to Egyptian children archived in Radiology department- Ain Shams University Hospitals.
The studied CT films were equally classified regarding the gender and each group was equally sub-divided regarding the age into 3 subgroups.
Results: The studied parameters showed validity for age determination in Egyptian children except frontal depth on both sides. For age estimation, right frontal width had the highest accuracy in all the studied age groups (92.85%) and right maxillary width had the highest sensitivity (89.8%) while left frontal depth and width had the highest specificity (96.8%). On the other hand, only left frontal depth and right frontal width could be used for gender determination.
Conclusion: Maxillary and frontal sinus measurements can be used in age determination in Egyptian children except frontal sinus depth on both sides. Left frontal depth and right frontal width are recommended in gender discrimination in children in the forensic medicine.