Client confidentiality

Protecting client confidentiality and maintaining case anonymity are core responsibilities when contributing to Vetlucent. No identifiable information—whether in text, images, or metadata—should be included in any submission.

General Guidelines

All content—including presenting complaints, case summaries, and uploaded images—must be free of personally identifying information (PII). While the patient is an animal, the client (owner) is a private individual, and their information must be protected. Patient information must also be protected whenever possible.

The most commonly missed detail is embedded data on images, particularly on ultrasound or nuclear medicine studies. Ideally, no identifying text should appear on images at all.

Our DICOM upload process will automatically strip metadata from DICOM files, but it cannot remove burned-in text (e.g. patient names on ultrasound). These must be manually cropped before uploading. You may use the crop tool in the uploader to do this.

Consent

Vetlucent does not require informed consent for all uploads, provided:

• the submission contains no identifying information, and

• you follow your institution’s or clinic’s policies.

If in doubt, please obtain owner consent. You may use our Vetlucent case upload consent form or your institution's equivalent, as long as the form clearly states the intended purpose. If consent is obtained, email a copy to editor-in-chief@vetlucent.com.

When consent is obtained, add the following to the end of your case discussion:

Consent: The owner gave written informed consent for publication of this case. Vetlucent stores this consent separately from the case content. For questions, contact privacy@vetlucent.com.

Permission ID: {to be provided}

What Constitutes Identifying Information

Identifiers include any element that could reasonably be used to identify a specific client or their animal. These include (adapted from HIPAA guidelines):

• owner's name or initials

• animal's name or initials

• date of birth

• contact details (address, email, phone, fax)

• medical record or case numbers

• microchip or tag numbers

• referring practice names or addresses

• postal codes or geographic indicators

• vehicle or device identifiers

• IP addresses or URLs

• biometric data

• images with facial details, even if partially obscured

• study dates

Age rounding: For animals older than one year, round the age to the nearest year in all descriptions.

Be aware that even seemingly de-identified cases may be recognizable due to unusual conditions, rare breeds, or small community practices. In such cases, consent is strongly recommended.

Photographs and Imaging Considerations

Photographs

Photos must not allow identification of the animal’s owner or their environment. Even masking eye regions in facial images is inadequate. Mild pixelation can be reversed and is not considered secure unless coarse and applied across the entire face or identifying region. Photos of the animal should follow the consent guidelines.

If Identifiable Information Is Uploaded

We take data privacy seriously. If you upload a case that includes identifying information, it will be deleted immediately upon discovery—no questions asked. If you didn’t keep a backup, we’re sorry—but you've been warned.

See our terms of use for more details.

Reporting a Privacy Concern

Vetlucent is a collaborative platform, and while we strive for high editorial standards, mistakes can happen. If you spot identifying information in a case, please email us at privacy@vetlucent.com, and we will act quickly to remove it.

Tracking your cases

With all cases anonymized, you will lose identifying information in your draft cases. If you would like to keep a list, you may download a .csv file from the cases section of your user account, and add back the case identifier on your local storage.