Book excerpt: Known as the bible of biomedical engineering, The Biomedical Engineering Handbook, Fourth Edition, sets the standard against which all other references of this nature are measured. As such, it has served as a major resource for both skilled professionals and novices to biomedical engineering. Biomedical Signals, Imaging, and Informatics, the third volume of the handbook, presents material from respected scientists with diverse backgrounds in biosignal processing, medical imaging, infrared imaging, and medical informatics. More than three dozen specific topics are examined, including biomedical signal acquisition, thermographs, infrared cameras, mammography, computed tomography, positron-emission tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, hospital information systems, and computer-based patient records. The material is presented in a systematic manner and has been updated to reflect the latest applications and research findings.