A new test to diagnose multiple sclerosis (MS) using an MRI scan instead of a painful spinal tap has been successfully introduced at an NHS trust in England. Researchers at the University of Nottingham previously found that a new type of MRI scan could identify MS with only an extra six minutes in the scanner, meaning patients no longer had to undergo a painful lumbar puncture. The test is now in use in Nottingham and increasingly in other neurology departments worldwide.