Age Estimation from Acetabulum Using Digital Image Processing Techniques in Thai Population

Age serves as a parameter for discerning individuals from skeletal remains. Within the pelvic bone, the acetabulum region emerges as a viable locus for assessing bone age. Specifically, the porosity of the acetabular fossa exhibits a potential correlation with bone age. Historically, bones have been forwarded to experts for age assessment, a process often cumbersome and impractical for remote locations. However, transmitting bone images is comparatively facile and expeditious, besides being cost-effective. Nowadays, digital media processor contributes a lot to the analysis of medical results. In this study, a proposition is made to employ digital image processing techniques for quantifying bone porosity, thereby facilitating age estimation. The samples of 123 pelvic bones comprised 40 females aged between 36 and 90 years old, and 83 males aged between 40 and 92 years old. Acetabulum color images were captured and subsequently converted into grayscale images. The ratio of dark gray pixels (representing porosity) to light gray pixels (representing bone) was computed alongside the exact age of the specimen. Age estimation equations were derived and applied using statistic ANOVA analysis. The age estimation equations for males and females are as follows: A=2.290P-27.96 for males and A=0.500P+51.48 for females, where A represents the age estimation and P denotes the percent porosity. As the result, a significant relationship between porosity and age was observed in males, whereas such correlation was absent in females. The resultant errors in age estimation varied within a range of 0 to 16 years. Of paramount concern is the cleanliness of the acetabulum area, as it profoundly influences pixel values.