Experiments now demonstrate that the content-based steganographic method and reversible watermarking technique can effectively protect mammograms at picture archiving and communication systems (PACS). As medical image databases are interconnected through PACSs, those medical images are subject to security breaches, such as loss or manipulation of sensitive information, if their contents are not protected.

In “Protection of Digital Mammograms on PACSs Using Data Hiding Techniques ”, an article from the most recent issue of the International Journal of Digital Crime and Forensics (Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Chang-Tsun Li, University of Warwick, UK) researchers Dr. Chang-Tsun Li and Dr. Yue Li, University of Warwick (UK) and Dr. Chia-Hung Wei, Ching Yun University (Taiwan) propose a content-based steganographic module and a reversible watermarking module to mask image content with hidden patient textual information.

“In the context of mammogram database management, the privacy of a patient, such as the patient’s identity and medical history, resides in the security of the sensitive textual information and the pictorial contents of mammograms,” write Li, Li, and Wei. “Recognizing the need for providing multi-level access control to the mammograms depending on the users’ roles on PACSs, we propose a conceptual role-based authorization scheme.”

In this study, content masking is intended to prevent unauthorized people from viewing the contents of mammograms. The authors are currently investigating the possibilities of tailoring the proposed framework for protecting other types of medical images.

(Portions of this article were taken from the International Journal of Digital Crime and Forensics - Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Chang-Tsun Li.)