Introduction to the special issue on biomedical image technologies and methods

Today, medical technology news more and more often reports on recent developments in the field of biomedical image technolo- gies and systems able to detect the most subtle changes in the human body and prepared to provide early diagnoses and tools for efficient treatment management and planning. It is indeed a fact that medical and molecular imaging today drives advancements in healthcare technologies, leading the way towards the concept of the personalized medicine that is gaining impulse nowadays. Non-invasive (or at least minimally invasive) imaging procedures allow physicians to evaluate a patient’s condition within minutes and take decisions on the proper therapy even in emergency cases, such like myocardial infarctions, etc. It is true that virtually all sig- nificant medical acts today involve imaging procedures, either for diagnosis, treatment planning or therapy follow-up: imaging tech- nologies now form an inseparable element of modern medicine, which would hardly advance without their assistance. The aim of this special issue is to provide a snapshot of emerg- ing technologies and methods in biomedical imaging, based on a selected number of papers presented in the 8th IEEE Interna- tional Conference on Bio-Informatics and Bio-Engineering (BIBE 2008). The best scoring contributions to the Conference during the peer evaluation process in the tracks of Bioimaging and Biomed- ical Image Processing have been invited to submit extended and updated papers for publication in this special issue. A total of 21 works were initially invited and 19 papers have been submitted, although one of them has been somehow deviated and published in an earlier issue of this journal. Five papers have been consid- ered as inappropriate for publication in this special issue after the peerreviewprocess,duringwhichatleasttworeviewers(andupto four in some cases) have anonymously evaluated each submission. Of the 13 papers finally included in this special issue, 7 works have requiredtworeviewroundsbeforetheiracceptanceforpublication