Title:Patient Data Hiding and Transmitting during COVID-19 for Telemedicine
Application using Image Steganography
Volume: 20
Author(s): B Lakshmi Sirisha*, Shaik Fayaz Ahamed and VBKL Aruna
Affiliation:
- Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Velagapudi Ramakrishna Siddhartha Engineering College, Vijayawada, India
Keywords:
COVID-19, Data hiding, Image metrics, Steganography, Telemedicine, Internet.
Abstract:
Aim of the Study:
Post COVID-19, everyone needs to be aware of health. The condition of the human body is judged based on various health reports like X-ray, CT
scan and MRI scan. Due to misplacement or loss of medical reports, there lies a high chance of improper diagnosis.
Methods:
In order to avoid improper diagnosis, a novel data-hiding technique is proposed in this work. In the proposed method, the patient’s health records
are hidden using polynomial theory in the patient photograph. This is used by doctors in telemedicine for better treatment at the right time. Image
steganography is useful for hiding secret images and also for generating secret keys. This enables only the authorized people (patient and
corresponding doctor) to access the reports using secret keys.
Results:
Four secret images (medical reports of the patient) are successfully embedded onto a single cover image (patient photo) with good quality. After
embedding, the stego images look like cover images so that unauthorized persons will not be able to access the data, and hence, safe transmission
is being carried out.
Conclusion:
A patient's medical report plays an important role in proper medical treatment. Particularly in telemedicine, the safe transmission of patient reports
without any loss or damage is necessary. The proposed method embeds reports of a patient in his/her photo and transmits them to the destination
safely with a quality of 45.5 dB. This hiding method is helpful to avoid cyber crimes, illegal transactions, malpractices etc.
