The results of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) performed in 67 patients with cerebral vascular malformations (35 arteriovenous malformations [AVM], 29 cryptic malformations, 11 venous angiomas and 2 associated lesions) were studied retrospectively after the patient population was divided into epileptics [25] and non-epileptics [42]. Several criteria were determined for each type of malformation in the two groups. They included patient's age, site of the malformation in relation to the cortex, size of the malformation, presence of a perilesional high-intensity signal on T2-weighted sequences and evidence of recent haemorrhage. Epileptogenic AVMs seemed to be more superficial and more often associated with a perilesional parenchymatous high-intensity signal on T2-weighted sequences than non-epileptogenic malformations. Epileptogenic cryptic malformations were closer to the cortex, larger, and specifically but rarely associated with changes in signal of the adjacent brain tissue on T2-weighted sequences. The few angiomas associated with epilepsy were, paradoxically, located in the cerebellum.