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. 2019 Oct 24;381(17):1684-1686.
doi: 10.1056/NEJMc1908881.

Identification of Anonymous MRI Research Participants with Face-Recognition Software

Christopher G Schwarz  1 , Walter K Kremers  1 , Terry M Therneau  1 , Richard R Sharp  1 , Jeffrey L Gunter  1 , Prashanthi Vemuri  1 , Arvin Arani  1 , Anthony J Spychalla  1 , Kejal Kantarci  1 , David S Knopman  1 , Ronald C Petersen  1 , Clifford R Jack Jr  1
Affiliations

Identification of Anonymous MRI Research Participants with Face-Recognition Software

Christopher G Schwarz et al. N Engl J Med. .
No abstract available

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Use of Face-Recognition Software to Identify Study Participants from MRI Scans.
Panel A shows how face recognition hypothetically could be used to identify study participants. Three-dimensional (3D) rendering software can generate realistic facial reconstructions from otherwise deidentified imaging data, and face-recognition software can identify the participants by matching them to publicly available photographs of named persons. (The photos in the upper left are stock photos provided by the Mayo Clinic Division of Media Support Services and do not show participants in our study.) CT denotes computed tomography, and MRI magnetic resonance imaging. Panel B shows examples of the photos of participants in our study (top and middle rows) and corresponding facial reconstructions from structural MRI (bottom row). Photos in which the participants’ eyes were closed (middle) are shown for visual similarity, but we used photos in which the eyes were open (top) for software-based face recognition. These volunteers provided consent to allow publication of their photographs and MRI-based reconstructions. MRI reconstructions largely preserve shapes and relative sizes of facial features, which are used by automated recognition software, but unlike photographs they do not depict hair, lighting, or skin pigmentation and are subject to shape deformations because the participant is lying in a supine position or because of contact with ear padding or the MRI head-coil assembly.
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References

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