Anonymising DICOM images

Jim's DICOM anonymiser tool can be used to replace sensitive information in DICOM images. It allows the removal from DICOM files of information that may jeopardise patient's or physicians' privacy. It can work with a single DICOM image, or multiple files as selected by the user. It will not overwrite the original DICOM files, but for each folder that contains DICOM files, it will create a sub-folder called "Anonymised" into which an anonymised copy of the original DICOM file will be created.

Note: You can also also anonymise sensitive information in images as they are converted into one of the loadable formats. However, you have less control over the anonymisation if you do this.

To bring up this tool, select DICOM Anonymiser from the File menu:

This brings up the Anonymiser Frame:

First, select the DICOM file(s) you wish to anonymise by clicking on the

button. A file chooser will now pop up. To select more than one DICOM file, follow the instructions in the file chooser description. You can also select a folder (directory) which contains the DICOM files that you want to anonymise. All DICOM files contained in the folder, and any sub-folders will be anonymised.

Next select which DICOM fields you want to be anonymised. For example, if the check-box is selected, the patient's name will be replaced in each of the DICOM files by the name set in the Text Area next to it: . You can change the anonymised text to any text that you wish.

If you un-select any of the check-boxes, that information will not be anonymised in the DICOM files.

When you are happy with the fields you wish to anonymise, and their anonymised values, click the button, to start the anonymisation.

The Anonymiser will now start the anonymisation process. For each of the files selected in the list of files to anonymise, the Anonymiser will:

Check whether the file is a regular file, or a folder.
If it is a folder, it will scan the folder for files and folders, and recurse through folders
If it is a regular file if will check whether the file is a valid DICOM file.
If if is a valid DICOM file, it will be read in, anonymised and written out with the same file name, but in a sub-folder of the original file location called "Anonymised".

Click the

button when you have finished anonymising.

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