MR scans were obtained at 0.5 and 1.0 T in 40 patients with 46 intracerebral hematomas categorized as hyperacute (0-2 days), acute (3-7 days), subacute (8-14 days), and chronic (15 days to 6 years). In a retrospective review, the signal intensity of the lesions was compared with that of normal white matter of the brain on spin-density, T1-, and T2-weighted spin-echo and T1-weighted gradient-echo sequences. The classic appearance and evolution of hematomas described in the literature at 1.5 T were not found in a significant number of the cases reviewed. In the hyperacute group, only five of eight hematomas had signal intensities that were hypointense relative to brain on T2-weighted images. Two of eight hyperacute hematomas were hyperintense relative to brain on the T1-weighted spin-echo images. However, T1-weighted gradient-echo images reliably demonstrated a hypointense signal in some portion of the hematoma in 45 of 46 cases. We conclude that while there is no constant temporal pattern on spin-echo or gradient-echo sequences, there are signal-intensity changes suggestive of hemorrhage in nearly all hematomas imaged at 0.5 and 1.0 T. Although the inconsistency may be frustrating from a diagnostic standpoint, this variability may reveal important individual differences in hematomas and the brain that surrounds them, and thus be clinically significant. Before these data can be mechanistically analyzed, the reason for contrast on MR scans of hematoma must be better understood.