Morphological and Variational Analysis of Upper Limb Superficial Vein Patterns in Human Identification and Forensic Anatomy

Olasoji O. Agboola, Thomas K. Adenowo

Abstract

Traditional forensic identification does not work well when tissues are damaged, bodies are incomplete, or when people try to hide who they are. Studies of blood vessel patterns are less accurate outside the lab. We tested whether visible arm vein patterns can reliably identify people for forensic use. We studied 384 people (192 men, 192 women, aged 18-72) from three Nigerian states from January 2023 to March 2024. The ethnic groups were Igbo (38.2%), Yoruba (31.5%), and Hausa (22.1%). We used special cameras, clear photos, and an ultrasound to record the vein patterns of both arms under the same conditions. We analysed the shapes and patterns using sorting and computer tools. We reached 96.8% accuracy with seven main features, and computer learning methods reached 98.5%. Four main pattern types had different results: complex (98.3%), network (97.2%), hybrid (96.8%), and linear (96.1%). The features stayed the same over 12 months, with similarity scores consistently above 0.94. Age, gender, and ethnicity helped improve identification. In summary, upper-arm vein patterns are strong forensic identifiers, making them valuable for modern forensic analysis.

10.22178/pos.124-50


Keywords


vascular biometrics; forensic identification; morphometric analysis; pattern recognition; temporal stability; biometric validation

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Copyright (c) 2025 Olasoji O. Agboola, Thomas K. Adenowo

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