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. 2012 Apr;3(2):10.4018/jcmam.2012040104.
doi: 10.4018/jcmam.2012040104.

Systematic Redaction for Neuroimage Data

Matt Matlock  1 , Nakeisha Schimke, Liang Kong, Stephen Macke, John Hale
Affiliations

Systematic Redaction for Neuroimage Data

Matt Matlock et al. Int J Comput Models Algorithms Med. 2012 Apr.

Abstract

In neuroscience, collaboration and data sharing are undermined by concerns over the management of protected health information (PHI) and personal identifying information (PII) in neuroimage datasets. The HIPAA Privacy Rule mandates measures for the preservation of subject privacy in neuroimaging studies. Unfortunately for the researcher, the management of information privacy is a burdensome task. Wide scale data sharing of neuroimages is challenging for three primary reasons: (i) A dearth of tools to systematically expunge PHI/PII from neuroimage data sets, (ii) a facility for tracking patient identities in redacted datasets has not been produced, and (iii) a sanitization workflow remains conspicuously absent. This article describes the XNAT Redaction Toolkit-an integrated redaction workflow which extends a popular neuroimage data management toolkit to remove PHI/PII from neuroimages. Quickshear defacing is also presented as a complementary technique for deidentifying the image data itself. Together, these tools improve subject privacy through systematic removal of PII/PHI.

Keywords: HIPAA Privacy Rule; Neuroimage Data; Neuroscience; XNAT Redaction Toolkit.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. XNAT and the role of redaction
Figure 2
Figure 2. XNAT redaction process
Figure 3
Figure 3. Detailed view of the privacy and identity management process
Figure 4
Figure 4. Quickshear defacing illustrated
Figure 5
Figure 5. Volume rendering after Quickshear defacing is applied
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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