Spinal cord lesions in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) are more conspicuous on short T1 inversion recovery (STIR) MRI sequences than on conventional T2-weighted sequences, new research shows. In a double-blind study, spinal cord MRI scans from 29 patients with MS were examined by two neuroradiologists, both of whom identified significantly more spinal cord lesions on STIR images than on T2-weighted images. The investigators argue that STIR sequences should be incorporated into the standard imaging protocols for MS.