Magnetic-resonance chemical-shift microimaging, with a spatial capsule is detected ( Fig. 1A) . Diagnosis on this basis is resolution of 40 1 40 mm, is a modality which can detect alterheavily dependent on sampling, because examining histopaations to cellular chemistry and hence markers of pathological thology sections throughout the entire capsule is totally improcesses in human tissue ex vivo. This technique was used as a practical given the time constraints and cost of such a procechemical microscope to assess follicular thyroid neoplasms, lesions dure. which are unsatisfactorily investigated using standard histopatho-New and independent modalities must be found to further logical techiques or water-based magnetic-resonance imaging. The our understanding of the process of disease and to discrimichemical-shift images at the methyl frequency ( 0.9 ppm) identify nate between those pathological processes which demonchemical heterogeneity in follicular tumors which are histologistrate similar histological features but represent different discally homogeneous. The observed changes to cellular chemistry, ease entities. The development of magnetic-resonance ( MR) detectable in foci of approximately 100 cells or less, support the existence of a preinvasive state hitherto unidentified by current technology represents an instrumental advance since this pathological techniques.