Discrimination of lymph node metastases using desorption electrospray ionisation-mass spectrometry imagingElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c3cc48927b

Desorption electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry imaging (DESI-MSI) has been used for the identification of cancer within lymph nodes with accurate spatial distribution in comparison to gold standard matched immuno-histopathological images. The metabolic profile of the cancerous lymph nodes was similar to that of the primary tumour site. This is the first study to report the application of DESI-MSI for the identification of lymph node cancer metastases.