A macroscopic and radiological study of bone callus formation: the difficult task of aging bone fractures

In the forensic and anthropological fields, the assessment of the age of a bone callus can be crucial for a correct analysis of injuries in the skeleton. This study aims to evaluating the aid Cone-Beam CT can give in the investigation of the inner structure of fractures and calluses, thus acquiring a better knowledge of the process of bone remodeling. A total of 13 fractures ( three without the callus formation) of known age from cadavers were subjected to radiological examination with digital radiography (DR) and Cone-Beam CT with the major aim of investigating the differences derived from the 2 different techniques when studying the inner and outer structure of bone healing. Results showed the higher specificity and definition of cone-beam CT which provide much more information also in the mineralization in different section of the planes.These results could lay the foundation for new perspective on bone callus evaluation and aging with cone-beam CT, a user-friendly and skillful technique which in some instances can also be used extensively on the living with reduced exposition to radiation.