Test your de-id profile using the fw deid command

  • Updated

To avoid uploading personally identifiable information (PII), use the Flywheel Command-Line Interface to test your de-id profile on your computer before you upload it. To try out a de-id profile, point to a sample dataset, the profile you'd like to test, and the folder where you'd like the output report to be saved. This process only gives you a preview of how your dataset would change–it does not make changes to your dataset.

This article explains how to use the fw deid test command to test your de-id profile.

Before you begin

  • Install the CLI: The Flywheel command-line interface (CLI) is an additional Flywheel program you download to use on your computer's Command Prompt (Windows) or Terminal (Mac) app. Install the app and sign in to your Flywheel account.

  • Create a de-id profile: See our other article for more information on how to create a de-id profile.

Steps

  1. Open a plain text editor such as TextEdit, Notepad, or Sublime.

  2. Copy and paste the following command into the editor:

    fw deid test <SRC> <PROFILE> <PATH> [optional flags]

  3. Replace the following pieces with your information:

    • SRC: The path to the folder to test. This data should be the same or similar to the data you want to upload to Flywheel.

    • PROFILE: Path to file containing the de-id profile

    • PATH: Save test results to the specified path on the current machine

    • Possible optional flags:[--session LABEL] [--subject LABEL]

    For example:

    fw deid test ~/Documents/TestData ~/Documents/deid_profile.yaml ~/Documents/DeIDLogs --subject deidTest

  4. Open the Terminal or Windows Command Prompt app on your computer.

  5. Copy and paste your command into Terminal or Windows Command Prompt app, and hit enter.

  6. The Flywheel CLI scans your files.

    deidtestexample.png

  7. Once complete, review the log file named deid_log.csv. This gives you a preview of how the DICOM fields would change after de-identification.

    For example:

    deid_logExample.png

  8. Adjust your de-id profile until the log file shows that your data will be sufficiently de-identified upon upload.

Next steps

Add your de-id profile to a Flywheel project to automatically de-identify new data or use the CLI to upload data.