News | Artificial Intelligence | May 13, 2021

Intended to foster understanding and awareness of anonymization challenges and use cases that have increased with the growth of AI

Herman Oosterwijk

Herman Oosterwijk


May 13, 2021 — Laurel Bridge Software, a provider of imaging software solutions that enable health systems to orchestrate their medical imaging workflows, announces new educational materials on medical imaging anonymization. They are intended to educate healthcare providers and AI algorithm developers about the challenges of anonymizing medical imaging exams for AI/machine learning, research, and education. All were developed through a collaboration with Herman Oosterwijk, long-time educator, and consultant in medical imaging informatics, PACS, DICOM and HL7. Two new educational white papers and a video are available on the Laurel Bridge website.

White Paper, part one: Anonymization of Patient Information in Medical Imaging; State-of-the-Art and Challenges

White Paper, part two: Anonymization of Patient Information in Medical Imaging; State-of-the-Art and Challenges

Video: Medical Imaging Anonymization Challenges and Insights: Perspectives from Herman Oosterwijk

Digital medical images require anonymization of Protected Health Information in the DICOM header and in "burned-in" text. One might wonder why we are still struggling with anonymization after so many years of experience. The answer is that it is complicated!

Anonymization of medical images has been a challenge ever since digital medical imaging was introduced", said Herman Oosterwijk, President of OTech. "When it was film-based, de-identifying an image was easy: One would simply cut off the corner of the film that included the patient information, or when making a duplicate, one would cover the patient information or obscure it with a black marker."

Laurel Bridge has been helping healthcare providers and clinical trial investigators to support clinical workflows by anonymizing medical imaging studies as an extension of clinical reading workflows. In addition, Laurel Bridge is helping AI algorithm researchers and developers to anonymize very large medical imaging data sets that are used for training AI algorithms and for educational purposes.

"We have a number of OEM partners who have sought our help to anonymize patient data as part of their AI algorithm workflow", said Jeff Blair, President of Laurel Bridge Software. "In addition, we have seen a significant increase in the number of healthcare providers and AI developers asking for assistance with their data anonymization and workflow needs.  When Herman approached us and confirmed this trend, we realized some education was needed."

The Laurel Bridge Compass - Routing Workflow Manager can automatically de-identify and re-identify medical images as part of clinical image routing workflows and in accordance with the DICOM Part 15 Standard.  In addition, the Laurel Bridge AI Workflow Suite can facilitate the exchange of anonymized and re-identified patient information with AI algorithms, along with the fetching and routing of relevant prior exams that might be required to integrate algorithms into research and clinical workflows.

For more information: www.LaurelBridge.com


Related Content

News | Bone Densitometry Systems

June 19, 2025 — Naitive Technologies has published results demonstrating the diagnostic performance of its AI-powered ...

Time June 18, 2025
arrow
News | Lung Imaging

June 18, 2025 — Exo recently announced that now included on its Exo Iris is the first ever FDA 510(k) cleared AI for ...

Time June 18, 2025
arrow
News | Digital Pathology

June 11, 2025 — Diagnostic laboratory leaders view digital pathology and artificial intelligence (AI) as pivotal to ...

Time June 12, 2025
arrow
News | Lung Imaging

June 11, 2025 — To prepare healthcare workforces and providers for an AI-driven future, Qure.ai has expanded its Global ...

Time June 11, 2025
arrow
News | Radiology Imaging

June 10, 2025 — CIVIE has announced the official launch of RadPod, an AI-driven, on-demand radiology platform designed ...

Time June 10, 2025
arrow
News | Ultrasound Imaging

June 4, 2025 — RadNet, Inc., a provider of high-quality, cost-effective diagnostic imaging services and digital health ...

Time June 09, 2025
arrow
News | Mammography

June 9, 2025 — A new independent, peer-reviewed study published in the journal Clinical Breast Cancer reinforces the ...

Time June 09, 2025
arrow
News | Imaging Software Development

June 05, 2025 — Nano-X Imaging Ltd. has announced that its deep-learning medical imaging analytics subsidiary, Nanox AI ...

Time June 05, 2025
arrow
News | Prostate Cancer

June 5, 2025 – Artera, the developer of multimodal artificial intelligence (MMAI)-based prognostic and predictive cancer ...

Time June 05, 2025
arrow
News | Ultrasound Imaging

June 3, 2025 — In a collaborative study between the Departments of Radiology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia ...

Time June 04, 2025
arrow
Subscribe Now