A method for the non-invasive imaging of an anatomic tissue structure in isolation from surrounding tissues, including: receiving from an input device magnetic imaging data from a patient of the anatomic tissue structure and surrounding tissues segmenting the imaging data to isolate the anatomic tissue structure imaging data from the imaging data for the surrounding tissues separating the anatomic tissue structure imaging data into data populations corresponding to tissue microstructures constructing an image from the imaging data for at least one of the tissue microstructures and storing or displaying the image. An apparatus embodying the disclosed method is also described, as well as a method for the quantitative measurement of a nerve tissue suspected of demyelination.
