History

dicom-dre originated from a de-identification workflow built on the MIRC CTP (Clinical Trial Processor) engine. This page records that background. It is not a reference for configuring the engine; the device catalog and profiles documented elsewhere in these docs have replaced the behavior described here.

From CTP scripts to a device catalog

The original workflow controlled DICOM image handling with two CTP script files and an XML metadata template:

• filter.script decided which images to accept for processing. Images matching a filter rule passed through; the engine quarantined images matching no rule.

• pixel.script defined rectangular regions to blank for images with burned-in PHI annotations.

Both scripts used a Java boolean expression syntax over DICOM attributes. Filter rules keyed on manufacturer, model, modality, software version, and image dimensions. Pixel rules paired a matching signature with one or more (x, y, width, height) scrub regions.

Two problems motivated the rewrite:

• The filter and pixel scripts encoded the same device signatures twice, once to decide acceptance and again to place scrub regions, so the two files diverged as maintainers added devices.

• The expression syntax was code rather than data, which made the rule set hard to inspect, test, and validate.

dicom-dre replaces both script files with a single Python device catalog. Each catalog entry describes one device and binds its acquisition variants directly to the pixel regions to blank, so each device defines its filter decision and its scrub regions together. See Device catalog.

From an XML template to profiles

De-identification profiles now express the metadata handling that a CTP anonymizer template previously expressed. See Profiles for the profiles included in this repository.

Acknowledgement

This project would not have been possible without years of working with and learning from the MIRC CTP engine.