3D Imaging Technology Uncovers Forensic Mysteries

Milford, CT, April 21, 2016 --(PR.com)-- Pediatric bone samples, which reveal crucial details regarding age and gender to forensic pathologists, are in limited supply these days due to the sensitive nature of this material. Medical examiners must often rely on dated records for new cases, which ultimately obstruct accurate analysis in criminal and anthropological cases.

New studies by Gerald Conlogue, a Professor Emeritus of Diagnostic Imaging in the School of Health Sciences at Quinnipiac University, and Leon Kier, a Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging at Yale University, however, are shedding new light on this complex realm of forensics using 3D imaging systems from Kubtec®.

By analyzing skull samples gathered by Dr. Robert Shapiro and Dr. Franklin Robinson for their book, The Embryogenesis of the Human Skull, published in 1980, and pelvises from the collection of the late Dr. Edmund S. Crelin, a renowned anatomist from the Yale University Medical School, Conlogue and Kier are significantly furthering forensic research.

“Because conventional radiographs are 2D images of 3D objects, there are superimpositions; therefore it’s difficult to distinguish the teeth or even the right and left side of the skull,” says Conlogue. “The Kubtec® Parameter 3D™ System – the only 3D Digital Cabinet X-ray System for Science & Research – provides clear, thin slices and the teeth can be observed very plainly.”

“It is now possible to demonstrate structures within the skull that could not have been clearly visualized when Shapiro and Robinson published their findings. In addition, specific features, such as the development of the teeth, occur at specified chronological periods. The data are used to estimate the age at the time of death,” says Conlogue. “It is important for an anthropologist to establish a biographical picture of the skeletal or mummified remains they examine. From that standpoint, the data could also be used in a forensic case where the remains of a fetus are found.”

To illustrate the application of 3D technology, Conlogue recalled a forensic case he worked on. The medical examiner’s office had a computed radiographic (CR) system. Yet during the examination of a suspected strangulation, the CR system was not able to determine a fractured hyoid bone in the neck. “Even when the bone was removed and radiographed separately on the CR plate, a fracture was suspected but not clearly visualized,” says Conloque. “The bone was brought to Kubtec®, placed into the Parameter 3D™ System and within minutes a fracture was plainly verified.”

“Thanks to the collection and Kubtec® technology, I’m able to collect data that is not being acquired by anyone else.”

To learn more about the Parameter 3D™ System, visit kubtec.com.
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