Skeletal Age Status Determination Using the Spheno-Occipital Synchondrosis Closure in a Cameroonian Population: An Analytical Study.

Background and Aims: Skeletal age estimation is as a transformative process, where the descriptive skeletal age indicator is translated into a chronological age. One of the limitations of the numerous methods used for examining age status is that as soon as the development sites have completed growth, which is relatively early, accurate age determination becomes challenging and more difficult. A synchondrosis is a joint cartilaginous in nature between two immovable bones that serves to allow growth until the hyaline cartilage is converted into bone before or during early adult life. The age of spheno-occipital synchondrosis (SOS) ossification is relatively late, compared with other cranial base synchondroses. Hence, knowing the accurate age of SOS closure can have an important impact in the medical, forensic, and anthropological fields. The aim of our study is to evaluate the use of the SOS as a means of skeletal age estimation in Cameroon. Methods: We carried out a cross-sectional analytical study using CT scans. Our study period included patient radiological files from January 2022 to April 2024 at the radiological unit of the Yaoundé University Teaching Hospital (YUTH) and two radiological centers in Yaoundé. We used a five-stage SOS closure classification going from Stage 1 where the SOS is completely open to Stage 5 where there is complete fusion of SOS and the scar obliterated. Results: We retained 312 participants, 171 (54.8%) of which were males and 141 (45.2%) were females with a sex ratio of 1.2. The mean age in our study was 17.4 ± 11.9 years. The first decade was the most represented with 34.6%. The mean age of closure for Stage 1 was 4.8 ± 3.3 years and for Stage 5 was 28.6 ± 7.8 years and the differences were statistically significant. Comparing the SOS closure with sex, we observed no clear difference between males and females, with their mean ages also being similar. In Stage 1 the mean age for males was 5.1 years and the mean age for females was 4.1 years. Conclusion: SOS closure in our study was as from the mean age of 23.5 years. SOS closure is linked to age in our study with a progressive increase in closure stage with age. SOS Stage 1 mean age of closure was at 4.8 years followed by 12.9 years then 19.9 years, 23.5 and finally 28.6 years at Stage 5, respectively. With respect to sex, there was no difference in SOS closure between males and females in all stages but Stage 1 in our study.