Automatic selective removal of embedded patient information from image content of DICOM files.

OBJECTIVE: Patient data may appear as burned-in text on the image content of DICOM image files, which is commonly seen in ultrasound images and some secondarily scanned images. The purpose of this article is to discuss the removal of such information, which can be cumbersome and demands human intervention. CONCLUSION: This article presents a computerized scheme that automatically removes patient data from the image content by finding burned-in texts that match information in the DICOM header, thus cleaning the entire DICOM image file while preserving other useful labels.