Interactive Secure Dissemination of Medical Images Using JPEG 2000

The increase in the number of medical exams, the need to store images resulting for those exams at a very high quality, and the introduction of teleradiology result in an overwhelm increase in storage and distribution costs of medical images. In this paper we propose a method using JPEG 2000 in the lossless or near lossless modes to encode medical images, in order to reduce image storage costs and in the same time store a very high image quality needed for medical applications. We use JPEG 2000 interactive protocols (JPIP) to allow interactive access to medical images in a way that minimizes the transmission bit rate by first displaying a reduced resolution or quality of the image, then allowing lossless display of regions of interest interactively specified by the image viewer. Our method secures medical images by applying JPEG 2000 specific security tools and is implemented in a way compliant to DICOM standard to ensure interoperability. Simulations and results verify the efficiency of the proposed method.