Secure Exchange of Confidential Information Of A Patient using Medical Image As Cover Media

Abstract

The proposed technique uses Steganography, which is the process of concealing confidential information in a cover media, to embed patient data in a medical image i.e., X-ray, CT-Scan, MRI etc. This technique ensures the confidentiality of the patient information i.e., medical diagnosis, test results, medical history, etc., and restricts the access of unauthorized people to the data. The confidential data is shared with only the selected and intended stakeholders, i.e. medical specialists, related laboratory experts, and authorized pharmacies. The results obtained demonstrate that the proposed technique is able to hide the secret information of the patients securely and innocently and the mere existence of the confidential data is kept hidden and unnoticeable to any unauthorized people. The hiding process preserves the quality of the medical images without affecting the medical details needed for a diagnosis process. The quality of the image remains higher than 30dB in terms of peak signal-to-noise ratio which ensures confidentiality of sensitive patient information, reports, results, and medications to avoid to the patients and avoid misuse and abuse of the medication.