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This study introduces a novel approach for integrating sensitive patient information within medical images with minimal impact on their diagnostic quality. Utilizing the mask region-based convolutional neural network for identifying regions of minimal medical significance, the method embeds information using discrete cosine transform-based steganography. The focus is on embedding within "insignificant areas", determined by deep learning models, to ensure image quality and confidentiality are maintained. The methodology comprises three main steps: neural network training for area identification, an embedding process for data concealment, and an extraction process for retrieving embedded information. Experimental evaluations on the CHAOS dataset demonstrate the method's effectiveness, with the model achieving an average intersection over union score of 0.9146, indicating accurate segmentation. Imperceptibility metrics, including peak signal-to-noise ratio, were employed to assess the quality of stego images, with results showing high capacity embedding with minimal distortion. Furthermore, the embedding capacity and payload analysis reveal the method's high capacity for data concealment. The proposed method outperforms existing techniques by offering superior image quality, as evidenced by higher peak signal-to-noise ratio values, and efficient concealment capacity, making it a promising solution for secure medical image handling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic resonance imaging is a medical imaging technique to create comprehensive images of the tissues and organs in the body. This study presents an advanced approach for storing and compressing neuroimaging informatics technology initiative files, a standard format in magnetic resonance imaging. It is designed to enhance telemedicine services by facilitating efficient and high-quality communication between healthcare practitioners and patients. The proposed downsampling approach begins by opening the neuroimaging informatics technology initiative file as volumetric data and then planning it into several slice images. Then, the quantization hiding technique will be applied to each of the two consecutive slice images to generate the stego slice with the same size. This involves the following major steps: normalization, microblock generation, and discrete cosine transformation. Finally, it assembles the resultant stego slice images to produce the final neuroimaging informatics technology initiative file as volumetric data. The upsampling process, designed to be completely blind, reverses the downsampling steps to reconstruct the subsequent image slice accurately. The efficacy of the proposed method was evaluated using a magnetic resonance imaging dataset, focusing on peak signal-to-noise ratio, signal-to-noise ratio, structural similarity index, and Entropy as key performance metrics. The results demonstrate that the proposed approach not only significantly reduces file sizes but also maintains high image quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data hiding technique using steganography prospered widely due to its high un-detectability, flexibility to the size of hidden data, and robustness against compression and other image processes. Accordingly, this paper aims to use a steganographic technique based on DICOM medical images, where one medical image is used as a cover image, and the other one is used as the secret message image. This method entails three main parts: preprocessing, data embedding based on the discrete cosine transform (DCT), and an extraction process. The performances of the algorithm were evaluated using Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) dataset, the metrics of the Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR), the Mean Square Error (MSE), the Structural Similarity Index (SSIM), the Universal Quality Index (UQI), and the correlation coefficient (R) values. The experimental results scored a high PSNR after the embedding process and high capacity of the hidden data by embedding a DICOM image into another DICOM image of the same size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]