The Handbook of Active Materials for Medical Devices: Advances and Applications pays attention to all kinds biodevices, mainly implantable or quirurgical, for diagnosis or treatment of different pathologies, which benefit from the use of active materials as sensors or actuators. Such active or 'intelligent' materials are capable of responding in a controlled way to different external physical or chemical stimuli by changing some of their properties. These materials can be used to design and develop sensors, actuators and multifunctional systems with a large number of applications for developing biodevices and medical appliances. Current work on these fields entails problems related to synthesis, characterization, modeling, simulation, processing and prototyping technologies, as well as device testing and validation, all of which are treated in depth in the Handbook, for the several types of active or intelligent materials covered. The General Index is included further on for additional details: Introduction to Product Development and Systematic Methodologies; General Considerations for Developing Medical Devices; Active Materials in Medical Devices; Shape Memory Alloys for Biodevices; Shape Memory Polymers for Biodevices; Electroactive Polymers as Sensors for Biodevices; Electroactive Polymers as Actuators for Biodevices; Active Ceramics for Biodevices; Pyroelectric Materials for Biodevices; Magnetically Active Materials for Biodevices; Optically Active Materials for Biodevices; Hydroactive Materials for Biodevices; Functionally Gradient Active Materials; Novel Micro- and Nano-structured Active Materials; and, Proposal of Development Methodology.