a method and apparatus for detecting the presence of abnormal tissues of the present invention utilizing a magnetic resonance imaging system in communication with a computer . the apparatus is configured to define a confidence region using a probability based confidence interval calculation such as multivariate or bivariate analysis for at least two parameters in a normal tissue sample by making a magnetic resonance image , and then to evaluate a second sample by making a magnetic resonance image . parameters detectable by magnetic resonance imaging 3 are selected from t1 , t2 , t2 *, signal intensity , and diffusion .