Radiological assessment of age from wrist joint in young adolescents

It's a radiological study of age assessment of 100 cases of young adolescents (Boy = 50; Girl = 50) in the age range of 14-17yrs by taking A-P view X-rays of their right wrist joint including hands. There was not a single case of fusion of lower end of ulna in male under the age of 14yrs. Fusion of lower end of radius is late in both sexes and we don't find any fusion in boys up to the 16yrs of age. It was observed that there is considerable narrowing of the range of radiological age assessed using the x-ray of the hand, from 15 years-19 years to 14 years-17 years in both boys and girls. The present study emphatically reveals that an adolescent either boy or girl whose secondary ossification centres of base of first metacarpal, heads of second, third, fourth and fifth metacarpals, bases of phalanges have fused could have attained the age of 17 years. This finding is quite reasonably consistent with the age from the available date of birth certificates of these students.