Abstract:
Aim: This study investigates the total sternum length and the lengths of each part of the sternum using computed tomography (CT)
images oriented orthogonally to reveal whether there are any significant gender differences with respect to these values.
Material and Methods: Thin-section thorax CT images from 60 subjects (30F, 30M) between 20 and 40 years of age were used,
oriented to the orthogonal plane using an image-processing program.The sternal angle (SA), manubrium length (ML), corpus length
(CL), xiphoid processlength (XPL), total sternum length (TSL), manubrium-corpus length proportion (sternal index; SI), and the
proportion of the three parts separate from the TSL were compared by gender.
Results: The values of the ML (M: 5.36 cm, F: 4.76 cm), CL (M: 10.11 cm, F: 8.75 cm), and TSL (M: 19.18 cm, F: 16.28 cm) were longer
in males (p≤0.05) than in females. No statistically significant difference was determined in the ratios of the XPL, SI, and sternum
parts to the TSL (p>0.05). The mean values of the SA in males and females were 161.4° and 160.51°, respectively (p>0.05). In an ROC
analysis, the most significant measurement for gender determination was found to be the CL, and the linear discriminant analysis
yielded a correct determination rate of 86% for males and 93% for females.
Conclusions: Although metric measurements of the sternum could provide high accuracy rates in gender determination, to increase
reliability, image analyses should be conducted in the orthogonal plane to remove errors that could be caused by the differences in
orientation.
