The average concentration of sodium is known to be elevated in some tumors relative to normal tissues, and necrosis is suspected of being a possible cause. We have performed in vivo sodium-23 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of IMR-5 neuroblastoma in the athymic nude mouse on a 1.9-Tesla, small-bore animal imaging system. We compared the sodium images with histologic analysis for necrosis and with proton images, chemical measurements of water and blood content, and sodium and potassium concentrations. We found that the sodium concentrations determined by MRI were proportional to the fraction of the tumor tissue that was necrotic. Correlation coefficients varied from 0.65 to 0.78, depending upon how the data were selected. With further refinement it is possible that the sodium concentration measurements determined noninvasively by MRI may have applications as part of clinical diagnosis and staging of soft tissue tumors.