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De-identifying POCUS clips

Before uploading any image or clip to EASy POCUS, it must be fully de-identified. This is your responsibility and your institution's policies and applicable law (including HIPAA) apply.

The most common mistake is leaving the patient banner (name, MRN, date) burned into the top of the clip. That text is part of the image — mask it (cover it with an opaque box) or clear it on the machine, not just “deleted” from file properties. Masking keeps the full ultrasound sector and depth scale intact; cropping distorts them.

Acquisition standard — capture every clip the same way

  • 1. Phased-array (cardiac / sector) transducer
  • 2. Adult Cardiac preset
  • 3. Increased far gain (time-gain compensation)
  • 4. Depth set to 21 cm

Per the EASy MAP protocol. Off-standard clips may be rejected to keep the training set consistent.

Remove all of these

  • Patient name, initials, date of birth, age in a way that could identify
  • Medical record number (MRN), accession/exam number, account number
  • Any dates (study date/time can be identifying — clear or mask the banner)
  • Facility / hospital name and logo, department, operator/sonographer name
  • Faces or distinguishing features in any non-ultrasound frame
  • File names and folder names containing identifiers (rename before upload)

How to do it

  1. 1On the ultrasound machine

    Use the machine's "anonymize", "clear patient", or "new patient" function before recording, so the patient banner is blank. Many systems can export a de-identified clip directly.

  2. 2If the banner is already burned in

    Mask it — overlay an opaque (black) box over the top patient banner and any facility name/logo. This covers the identifiers while preserving the full ultrasound sector, depth markers, and image scale (cropping shrinks the frame and distorts the scale). The banner is part of the image pixels — it cannot be removed by editing metadata alone.

  3. 3Strip metadata

    Export to MP4/JPEG/PNG (not DICOM). DICOM files carry extensive patient metadata. A plain MP4/image screen-recording or export avoids embedded identifiers.

  4. 4Rename the file

    Give the file a neutral name (e.g. case-rv-strain.mp4) — never the patient's name, MRN, or date.

  5. 5Final check

    Play the whole clip full-screen and scan every corner and the first/last frames for any text, banner, or overlay before you upload.

Before you upload — confirm

  • No patient banner / name / MRN / date visible in any frame
  • Exported as MP4/JPEG/PNG (not DICOM)
  • File renamed with no identifiers
  • Watched the full clip and checked every corner

If you are unsure whether a clip is fully de-identified, do not upload it.