Document Detail


Evaluation of a deidentification (De-Id) software engine to share pathology reports and clinical documents for research.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  14983930     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
We evaluated a comprehensive deidentification engine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), Pittsburgh, PA, that uses a complex set of rules, dictionaries, pattern-matching algorithms, and the Unified Medical Language System to identify and replace identifying text in clinical reports while preserving medical information for sharing in research. In our initial data set of 967 surgical pathology reports, the software did not suppress outside (103), UPMC (47), and non-UPMC (56) accession numbers; dates (7); names (9) or initials (25) of case pathologists; or hospital or laboratory names (46). In 150 reports, some clinical information was suppressed inadvertently (overmarking). The engine retained eponymic patient names, eg, Barrett and Gleason. In the second evaluation (1,000 reports), the software did not suppress outside (90) or UPMC (6) accession numbers or names (4) or initials (2) of case pathologists. In the third evaluation, the software removed names of patients, hospitals (297/300), pathologists (297/300), transcriptionists, residents and physicians, dates of procedures, and accession numbers (298/300). By the end of the evaluation, the system was reliably and specifically removing safe-harbor identifiers and producing highly readable deidentified text without removing important clinical information. Collaboration between pathology domain experts and system developers and continuous quality assurance are needed to optimize ongoing deidentification processes.
Authors:
Dilip Gupta; Melissa Saul; John Gilbertson
Publication Detail:
Type:  Evaluation Studies; Journal Article; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.    
Journal Detail:
Title:  American journal of clinical pathology     Volume:  121     ISSN:  0002-9173     ISO Abbreviation:  Am. J. Clin. Pathol.     Publication Date:  2004 Feb 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2004-02-26     Completed Date:  2004-03-09     Revised Date:  2007-11-14    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  0370470     Medline TA:  Am J Clin Pathol     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  176-86     Citation Subset:  AIM; IM    
Affiliation:
Center for Pathology Informatics, Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center--Presbyterian Shadyside, PA 15232, USA.
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Confidentiality*
Data Collection
Humans
Information Dissemination / methods*
Medical Records Systems, Computerized*
Names
Pathology, Surgical*
Patient Identification Systems
Software Design*
Grant Support
ID/Acronym/Agency:
1-G08-LM06625/LM/NLM NIH HHS
Comments/Corrections
Comment In:
Am J Clin Pathol. 2004 Feb;121(2):169-71   [PMID:  14983928 ]

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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