Radiographic image characteristics of specific fluid in various imaging techniques
| CT | MRI T1 | MRI T2 | MRI FLAIR | MRI DWI | |
| Cerebral spinal fluid | Dark | Dark | Bright | Dark | Dark |
| Gadolinium | Bright | Bright* | Dark | Bright | Bright |
| Acute blood/hemorrhage | Bright | Dark | Dark | Dark | N/A |
| Subacute blood/hemorrhage | Bright | Bright | Dark | Bright | N/A |
*The appearance of gadolinium on T1 images is concentration dependent. At lower concentrations, gadolinium is hyperintense (bright), and it becomes isointense then hypointense (dark) as the gadolinium concentration increases. T2 imaging is not concentration dependent.
DWI, diffusion-weighted imaging; FLAIR, fluid-attenuated inversion recovery.