Most neurologists in Scotland do not use the mcdonald 2010 criteria to diagnose multiple sclerosis

Diagnostic criteria for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) have continuously evolved since Schumaker in 1965 up to the present McDonald (2010) criteria, progressively incorporating advances in diagnostic technology, particularly magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The emergence of successful, but potentially toxic, disease modifying therapies has meant that an earlier and more accurate diagnosis of MS may be more important now than in the past. Although the current diagnostic criteria allow for a diagnosis of MS after a single clinical attack but with supportive MRI findings, our impression was that there was a clinical reluctance to use such criteria, preferring in many cases to base a diagnosis of MS on the time honoured principle of two or more clinical presentations disseminated in time and space. This study aimed to test this hypothesis by auditing how Scottish neurologists diagnose MS in clinical practice and to what extent they use the 2010 McDonald criteria in patients presenting with a clinically isolated syndrome (CIS).