Enhanced Security in Medical Imaging: A Novel Watermarking and Compression Approach

Abstract

Medical images, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasound (US), computerized tomography (CT), X-rays, and electrocardiography (ECG), each have distinct benefits and drawbacks. Accurate identification of these images is crucial for maintaining patient-specific data integrity. This study proposes a novel watermarking technique that employs Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT), Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT), and Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) to enhance the security, confidentiality, and integrity of medical images. Previous research by Badshah et al. underlines that digital watermarking significantly bolsters the protection of medical images. Additionally, we incorporate Run Length Encoding (RLE) as a compression method to efficiently reduce data memory requirements. The implementation of these techniques demonstrated a marked improvement in the Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR), increasing by up to 5 dB in watermarked images compared to non-watermarked ones, indicating enhanced imperceptibility. Moreover, the file size reduction achieved through our compression approach ranged from 15% to 30%, ensuring that high-quality images consume less storage space. These advancements facilitate the secure and efficient handling of medical image data, supporting their use in clinical environments.