Building an IPFS and Blockchain-Based Decentralized Storage Model for Medical Imaging

Abstract

Currently, sharing and access of medical imaging is a significant element of present healthcare systems, but the existing infrastructure of medical image sharing depends on third-party approval. In this chapter, the authors have proposed a framework in order to provide a decentralized storage model for medical image sharing through IPFS and blockchain technology that remove the hurdle of third-party dependency. In the proposed model, the authors are sharing the imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM) medical images, which consist of various information related to disease, and hence, the framework can be utilized in the real-time application of the healthcare system. Moreover, the framework maintains the feature of immutability, privacy, and availability of information owing to the blockchain-based decentralized storage model. Furthermore, the authors have also discussed how the information can be accessed by the peers in the blockchain network with the help of consensus. To implement the framework, they have used the python ask and anaconda python.