Radiologists should educate patients on OB ultrasound privacy

Radiologists are in a good position to educate new mothers about the security risks of posting their obstetric (OB) ultrasound images on public websites, according to this poster presentation.

Thanks to smartphones and other mobile devices, new mothers can easily post photos of their obstetric ultrasound images to a public website or forum. After acquiring a consecutive series of OB ultrasound images from a publicly accessible website, a research team from the University of Tennessee (UT) Health Science Center found that a large percentage of these photos showed protected health information that could be targeted by identify thieves.

Radiologists can provide patients with some simple measures such as framing, cropping, and photo editing to prevent disclosure of this information, said presenter Dr. Loyrirk "Float" Temiyakarn, a UT Methodist radiology resident.