Morphometric Analysis of Sella Turcica and a Proposed Novel Sella Turcica Index - A Digital Lateral Cephalometric Study.

Abstract

Background: The sella turcica is a structure readily seen on lateral cephalograms and sella point is routinely traced for various cephalometric analyses. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the morphometric variation in size and shape of sella turcica via lateral cephalogram. The objectives were to introduce a novel sella turcica index (STI) and assess its reliability that could be helpful in gender determination. Materials and Methods: A total of 80 lateral cephalograms of the patients of age group 10-30 years were included for the study. The morphological variations of the sella turcica was done based on the classification given by Axelsson et al. (2004). The length, depth and perimeter of the sella turcica was measured and STI derived and calculated. The data was further subjected to discriminant analysis to validate the gender outcome. Reliability of the novel index was determined by calculating the sensitivity and specificity. Results: The overall most common morphological type of sella turcica was Type A (56.25%) followed by Type B (18.75%) and Type E (13.75%). The mean perimeter and depth of sella turcica was higher in females whereas the mean length of sella turcica was higher in males. The mean STI was higher in males and statistically highly significant. The sensitivity and specificity of this index was 72.5% and 90% respectively. Conclusion: A significant relationship was observed between the morphometric measurements of sella turcica and gender. STI could be of great help as a reliable tool for personal identification in forensic sciences.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12070-023-04082-9.