What is DICOM anonymization?

We aim to facilitate and guarantee a project's confidentiality and integrity of all data. When creating a new project to host and share data, you will use the below-mentioned anonymization.

Legend

  • X - Remove tag.
  • Z - Replace with a zero length value, or a non-zero length value that may be a dummy value and consistent with the Value Representations
  • D - Replace with a non-zero length value that may be a dummy value and consistent with the Value Representations


Tags

Tag

Hex Code

Name

Anonymization

0x0008

0x0050

AccessionNumber

 Z

0x0008

0x0080

InstitutionName

X

0x0008

0x0096

ReferringPhysicianIDSequence

X

0x0008

0x1048

PhysiciansOfRecord

X

0x0008

0x1049

PhysiciansOfRecordIDSequence

X

0x0008

0x1050

PerformingPhysicianName

X

0x0008

0x1052

PerformingPhysicianIDSequence

X

0x0008

0x1060

NameOfPhysicianReadingStudy

X

0x0008

0x1062

PhysicianReadingStudyIDSequence

 X

0x0010

0x0030

PatientBirthDate

Z

0x0010

0x0050

PatientInsurancePlanCodeSequence

X

0x0010

0x0101

PatientPrimaryLanguageCodeSeq

X

0x0010

0x1000

OtherPatientIDs

X

0x0010

0x1001

OtherPatientNames

X

0x0010

0x1002

OtherPatientIDsSequence

X

0x0010

0x1010

PatientAge

X

0x0010

0x1040

PatientAddress

X

0x0010

0x1060

PatientMotherBirthName

X

0x0010

0x0010

PatientName

Z

0x0010

0x0020

PatientID

Z

0x0010

0x0021

IssuerOfPatientID

X

0x0010

0x0032

PatientBirthTime

X

0x0010

0x0040

PatientSex

Z

0x0010

0x1000

OtherPatientIDs X

0x0010

0x1001

OtherPatientNames

X

0x0010

0x1005

PatientBirthName

X

0x0010

0x2150

CountryOfResidence

X

0x0010

0x2152

RegionOfResidence

X

0x0010

0x2154

PatientTelephoneNumbers

X

0x0038

0x0300

CurrentPatientLocation

X

0x0038

0x0400

PatientInstitutionResidence

 X

0x0008

0x0020

StudyDate

Z

0x0008

0x0021

SeriesDate

X

0x0008

0x0022

AcquisitionDate

X

0x0008

0x0023

ContentDate

Z

0x0008

0x0024

OverlayDate

X

0x0008

0x0024

CurveDate

X

0x0008

0x002A

AcquisitionDateTime

X

0x0008

0x0030

StudyTime

Z

0x0008

0x0031

SeriesTime

X

0x0008

0x0032

AcquisitionTime

X

0x0008

0x0033

ContentTime

Z

0x0008

0x0034

OverlayTime

X

0x0008

0x0035

CurveTime

X

0x0008

0x0081

InstitutionAddress

X

0x0008

0x0090

ReferringPhysicianName

Z

0x0008

0x0092

ReferringPhysicianAddress

X

0x0008

0x0094

ReferringPhysicianTelephoneNumber

X

0x0008

0x1040

InstitutionalDepartmentName

X

0x0008

0x1070

OperatorsName

X

0x0020

0x0010

StudyID

Z

0x0040

0xA120

DateTime

X

0x0040

0xA121

Date

X

0x0040

0xA122

Time

X

0x0040

0xA123

PersonName

D

 

References

  1. DICOM anonymizer comparison (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-015-3794-0)
  2. HIPAA 18 classes of identifiers to be removed (https://cphs.berkeley.edu/hipaa/hipaa18.html)
  3. INCF XNAT Data Store (http://xnat.incf.org/)
  4. DICOM supplement 142 - Clinical Trial De-identification Profiles (ftp://medical.nema.org/medical/dicom/final/sup142_ft.pdf)

 

HIPAA and data privacy compliance

Images include individually identifiable information and other information which is not directly related to a subject's identity per session, but that might assist in recovering the identity. This Protected Health Information (PHI) needs to be removed to protect the subject's privacy, complying with HIPAA rules and other data privacy regulations.

On the other hand, researchers want to keep certain specific information for running detailed analysis and assuring data quality. It is important to be flexible with the requirements depending on the research purpose.

 

Automatic anonymization 

For our user's convenience, QMENTA provides an anonymization method which is executed automatically when you upload the data. This process anonymizes most information which might assist in recovering a subject's identity.

For example, "Patient birth date" is removed just as is "Country of residence".

We follow industry standards and regulations. For instance, HIPAA has a guidance about what information needs to be removed (link). On the platform, you can browse all DICOM tags to be removed or replaced by a dummy value. 



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