Anat Biol Anthropol.  2021 Sep;34(3):67-75. 10.11637/aba.2021.34.3.67.

Forensic Anthropological Studies using Korean CT Data: The Present and the Future

• Woo EJ
• Jeong Y

• KMID: 2525628
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.11637/aba.2021.34.3.67

Abstract

Computed tomography (CT) allows to inspect and identify the internal features of human tissues in a non-destructive way and to reconstruct their three-dimensional (3D) morphology. Nowadays, CT data have become one of the key research materials in the field of virtual anthropology. Particularly in forensic anthropology, CT data are often used not only to document biological properties of a population and generate population-specific standards for an identification purpose but also to perform comparative studies between populations. This study aims to survey the state of CT databases established in South Korea and research outcomes from the databases to understand the trend of forensic anthropological studies using Korean CT data, which will contribute to an expansion of the scope of Korean forensic anthropology. There are only a few Korean CT databases available for forensic anthropological studies. The largest Korean CT database is the Forensic CT Database managed by the National Forensic Service (NFS) since 2013. The NFS database is still growing by adding new CT data from the forensic cases and has a great potential as a research resource. Research articles using Korean CT data have been published in multiple domestic and international forensic journals since the late 2000s. The two most dominant topics were to generate Koreanspecific sex estimation techniques based on the metric assessment of different body parts and to examine the thickness and shape of soft tissues on the face in terms of the facial reconstruction. There are only a limited number of studies dealing with other topics such as age estimation. Recent advancement of the forensic imaging techniques including the CT method creates a new environment for researchers. In this situation, detailed information about the measurement methods and clearly defined variables are critical to conduct various inter-population comparisons and meta-analyses. Thus, when CT-related research is performed, the issue of standardization and reliability of the measurement methods should be considerately examined. The Korean CT databases established in a systemic and standardized way will contribute to a generation of the Korean-specific forensic standards as well as to an understanding of the human variations among populations.

Keyword

Computed tomography; Virtual anthropology; Biological profile; Forensic anthropology; Korean