Hypothalamic hamartoma is the most common detectable cerebral lesion causing precocious puberty. Two histologically confirmed cases were studied by computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. T2 weighted, sagittal MR images were superior to CT in delineating the tumor from surrounding grey matter. The lesion was isointense to grey matter on T1 weighted images allowing exclusion of other hypothalamic tumors. MR will undoubtedly become the imaging modality of choice in the detection of hypothalamic hamartoma.