Mineralization of the Costal Cartilages as an Indicator of Age: Preliminary Observations
McCormick, WF
Professor of neurology, neurosurgery, and pathology and chief, Division of Neuropathology, Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston; deputy chief medical examiner, Galveston County, Tex.


Abstract
Soft X-ray examination of costal cartilages from 210 cadavers indicated a roughly linear increase in mineralization with advancing age. A cabinet X-ray machine and mammography film were used. Detectable mineralization was not found before the age of 15 and was rarely marked before the age of 50. Similar degrees of mineralization over a wide age span during middle years seriously limits the value of this method of age estimation while the ease, rapidity, and relative inexpensiveness of this procedure on intact or partially decomposed bodies recommends its use, especially where an expert physical (forensic) anthropologist is not readily available.

Keywords:
physical anthropology, human identification, musculoskeletal system

Paper ID: JFS254800736

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Author McCormick WF Title Mineralization of the Costal Cartilages as an Indicator of Age: Preliminary Observations Symposium , Committee on