We investigated the feasibility of using T1-weighted magnetisation transfer sequences to generate tissue contrast and increase the conspicuity of short-T1 areas within the brain. We imaged two normal volunteers with and without saturating off-resonance radiofrequency irradiation at a range of repetition times (TR 200-760 ms). T1 values and magnetisation transfer ratios for white matter and deep grey matter were calculated. We studied eight patients with intracranial lesions showing short-T1 areas, using mildly T1-weighted sequences with and without magnetisation transfer contrast. Lesion numbers, areas and signal intensities were measured and lesion-to-background contrast was calculated. Comparison was made with conventional T1-weighted spin-echo images. In the normal volunteers, contrast between the thalamus, caudate and lentiform nuclei and white matter showed striking visual differences, with magnetisation transfer weighing, with decreasing TR. In all patients, short-T1 lesions were seen more clearly on magnetisation transfer-weighted images, with significant increase in lesion number, area and contrast, when compared with conventional T1-weighted scans.