Femoral length estimation from its fragmentary state in nigerian population

In forensic science, the identification of a deceased person is of great medico legal importance. To establish the identity of a person, stature is one of the criteria. To know stature of individual, length of long bone(s) (i.e., humerus, tibia, femur and ulna) is/are needed. In Crime scene investigations, most times depending on the nature of the crime a complete body may not be found and instead fragments of bones or dismembered body parts maybe found. It then becomes necessary to estimate the physical characteristics (i.e., stature, height, race) of the victim with the available resources. The present study was aimed at estimating the total length of femur from fragments in Nigerian population. Maximum femoral length and measures of five (5) fragments of 200 femora (97 rights and 103 left) were obtained by means of a measuring tape and a vernier caliper from museums of various Anatomy Departments in Nigerian Universities. The mean length of femur bone on left side was 44.92 ±3.28cm while on the right side was 44.71±3.32cm. The mean length of segments on left side were segment-1=8.00±1.19, segment-2= 10.19±1.35, segment-3= 10.35±1.48, segment-4= 12.52±1.10 and segment-5= 3.86±0.42, while mean length of segments on right side were segment-1= 8.07±1.13, segment-2= 10.37±1.34, segment-3= 10.02±1.63, segment- 4= 12.43±1.22 and segment-5= 3.82±0.43 A relationship was formulated to calculate length of femur in respect to each segment and this would be used ultimately to determine stature. The knowledge of Morphometric values of different femoral segments has important forensic and clinical implications.