Analysis of the impact of digital watermarking on computer-aided diagnosis in medical imaging

Medical images (MI) are relevant sources of information for detecting and diagnosing a large number of illnesses and abnormalities. Due to their importance, this study is focused on breast ultrasound (BUS), which is the main adjunct for mammography to detect common breast lesions among women worldwide. On the other hand, aiming to enhance data security, image fidelity, authenticity, and content verification in e-health environments, MI watermarking has been widely used, whose main goal is to embed patient meta-data into MI so that the resulting image keeps its original quality. In this sense, this paper deals with the comparison of two watermarking approaches, namely spread spectrum based on the discrete cosine transform (SS-DCT) and the high-capacity data-hiding (HCDH) algorithm, so that the watermarked BUS images are guaranteed to be adequate for a computer-aided diagnosis (CADx) system, whose two principal outcomes are lesion segmentation and classification. Experimental results show that HCDH algorithm is highly recommended for watermarking medical images, maintaining the image quality and without introducing distortion into the output of CADx.

[1]  Subhabrata Chakraborti,et al.  Nonparametric Statistical Inference , 2011, International Encyclopedia of Statistical Science.

[2]  L Leija,et al.  Computerized lesion segmentation of breast ultrasound based on marker-controlled watershed transformation. , 2009, Medical physics.

[3]  Xinpeng Zhang,et al.  Reversible Data Hiding With Optimal Value Transfer , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Multimedia.

[4]  Imran Usman,et al.  Lossless Data Hiding Using Optimized Interpolation Error Expansion , 2011, 2011 Frontiers of Information Technology.

[5]  Guy Lapalme,et al.  A systematic analysis of performance measures for classification tasks , 2009, Inf. Process. Manag..

[6]  M. Giger,et al.  Computerized diagnosis of breast lesions on ultrasound. , 2002, Medical physics.

[7]  Djemel Ziou,et al.  Image Quality Metrics: PSNR vs. SSIM , 2010, 2010 20th International Conference on Pattern Recognition.

[8]  Antonio Fernando Catelli Infantosi,et al.  Breast ultrasound despeckling using anisotropic diffusion guided by texture descriptors. , 2014, Ultrasound in medicine & biology.

[9]  P. Rousseeuw,et al.  Alternatives to the Median Absolute Deviation , 1993 .

[10]  José Juan García-Hernández.  Exploring Reversible Digital Watermarking in Audio Signals Using Additive Interpolation-error Expansion , 2012, 2012 Eighth International Conference on Intelligent Information Hiding and Multimedia Signal Processing.

[11]  J. Alison Noble,et al.  Ultrasound image segmentation: a survey , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging.

[12]  Mohamed Ali Hajjaji,et al.  A Digital Watermarking Algorithm Based on DCT: Application on Medical Image , 2012 .

[13]  Akram M. Zeki,et al.  Digital watermarking for mammogram authentication , 2010 .

[14]  D. ChengH.,et al.  Automated breast cancer detection and classification using ultrasound images , 2010 .

[15]  Bülent Sankur,et al.  Statistical analysis of image quality measures , 2000, 2000 10th European Signal Processing Conference.

[16]  Wilfrido Gómez-Flores,et al.  Improving classification performance of breast lesions on ultrasonography , 2015, Pattern Recognit..

[17]  Vellaisamy Seenivasagam,et al.  A QR Code Based Zero-Watermarking Scheme for Authentication of Medical Images in Teleradiology Cloud , 2013, Comput. Math. Methods Medicine.

[18]  Osamah M. Al-Qershi,et al.  Authentication and Data Hiding Using a Hybrid ROI-Based Watermarking Scheme for DICOM Images , 2011, Journal of Digital Imaging.

[19]  Ling Zhang,et al.  Automated breast cancer detection and classification using ultrasound images: A survey , 2015, Pattern Recognit..

[20]  Y.S. Lim,et al.  Multiple block based authentication watermarking for distribution of medical images , 2004, Proceedings of 2004 International Symposium on Intelligent Multimedia, Video and Speech Processing, 2004..

[21]  Hore,et al.  [IEEE 2010 20th International Conference on Pattern Recognition (ICPR) - Istanbul, Turkey (2010.08.23-2010.08.26)] 2010 20th International Conference on Pattern Recognition - Image Quality Metrics: PSNR vs. SSIM , 2010 .

[22]  Bin Li,et al.  General Framework to Histogram-Shifting-Based Reversible Data Hiding , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Image Processing.

[23]  A. Ramli,et al.  Computer-aided detection/diagnosis of breast cancer in mammography and ultrasound: a review. , 2013, Clinical imaging.

[24]  Subhajit Das,et al.  FPGA and SoC based VLSI architecture of reversible watermarking using rhombus interpolation by difference expansion , 2014, 2014 Annual IEEE India Conference (INDICON).

[25]  Ioan-Catalin Dragoi,et al.  Local-Prediction-Based Difference Expansion Reversible Watermarking , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Image Processing.

[26]  Heidi A. Peterson,et al.  Luminance-model-based DCT quantization for color image compression , 1992, Electronic Imaging.

[27]  Chang-Tsun Li,et al.  Protection of Digital Mammograms on PACSs Using Data Hiding Techniques , 2009, Int. J. Digit. Crime Forensics.

[28]  Jose Juan Garcia-Hernandez.  On a low complexity steganographic system for digital images based on interpolation-error expansion , 2013, 2013 IEEE 56th International Midwest Symposium on Circuits and Systems (MWSCAS).

[29]  R. Collorec,et al.  Relevance of watermarking in medical imaging , 2000, Proceedings 2000 IEEE EMBS International Conference on Information Technology Applications in Biomedicine. ITAB-ITIS 2000. Joint Meeting Third IEEE EMBS International Conference on Information Technol.

[30]  Suresh N. Mali,et al.  ROI Based Embedded Watermarking of Medical Images for Secured Communication in Telemedicine , 2012 .

[31]  G. Coatrieux,et al.  A Review of Image Watermarking Applications in Healthcare , 2006, 2006 International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society.

[32]  Ingemar J. Cox,et al.  Secure spread spectrum watermarking for multimedia , 1997, IEEE Trans. Image Process..

[33]  Huaiqiang Zhang,et al.  Robust zero-watermarking for medical image based on DCT , 2012, 2011 6th International Conference on Computer Sciences and Convergence Information Technology (ICCIT).

[34]  N. V. Rao,et al.  Watermarking in Medical Imaging for Security and Authentication , 2011, Inf. Secur. J. A Glob. Perspect..

[35]  Tom Fawcett,et al.  An introduction to ROC analysis , 2006, Pattern Recognit. Lett..

[36]  Asifullah Khan,et al.  A recent survey of reversible watermarking techniques , 2014, Inf. Sci..

[37]  Sun-Yen Tan.  Concept and Application of Zero-Watermark , 2003 .

[38]  Weiming Zhang,et al.  Recursive Histogram Modification: Establishing Equivalency Between Reversible Data Hiding and Lossless Data Compression , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Image Processing.

[39]  José Juan García-Hernández,et al.  FPGA implementation of a low complexity steganographic system for digital images , 2015, 2015 IEEE/ACIS 14th International Conference on Computer and Information Science (ICIS).

[40]  Tony Rodriguez,et al.  Optimized selection of benchmark test parameters for image watermark algorithms based on Taguchi methods and corresponding influence on design decisions for real-world applications , 2003, IS&T/SPIE Electronic Imaging.

[41]  Xiao Zeng,et al.  Reversible Image Watermarking Using Interpolation Technique , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security.

[42]  Pierre Baldi,et al.  Assessing the accuracy of prediction algorithms for classification: an overview , 2000, Bioinform..

[43]  Andrew B. Watson,et al.  DCT quantization matrices visually optimized for individual images , 1993, Electronic Imaging.