Age Related Lumbar Trabecular Bone in a Thai Population

Within spinal column, the lumbar vertebrae are the most durable and usually left behind in severely burnt body. European studies have reported that these vertebrae are useful for age estimation. However, it is widely acknowledged that different ancestry necessitates different methods and includes a range of variables, therefore a study specific to Thai population is needed for accuracy in the identification of Thai individuals. To investigate the correlation between lumbar vertebrae, and age of the individual, L1-L5 drilled out from 75 Thai cadavers. After undergoing histological processing each slide was photographed. The images were processed using an image processing technique to calculate the percentage of trabecular bone area over total area (%TBA/TA). Using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) program, %TBA/TA of L1-L5 was calculated. The %TBA/TA of L1-L5 showed a negative correlation to age in both male and female groups. The %TBA/TA of L2 in the male group decreased most significantly with increase in age (r=-0.775) whereas in the female group, L3 showed the strongest negative correlation with age (r=-0.75. In the conclusion, it was found that trabecular bone of L2 showed the most significant correlation to increase in age in males whereas L3 showed the strongest correlation in females. Keywords: Age, Image segmentation, Lumbar, Thai population, Trabecular bone