BUFFALO, N.Y. — Researchers from the University at Buffalo revealed their findings on Wednesday morning from a study focusing on people living with multiple sclerosis both here in Buffalo and in Boston, Massachusetts.
Researchers looked at two groups - patients living in Western New York with mild to moderate MS and patients with severe MS living at The Boston Home in Massachusetts, a long-term care facility.
UB's Comprehensive Assessment of Severely Affected MS found that while white matter lesions in the brain are commonly studied to track the progression of MS, grey matter atrophy is a better way to monitor severe physical and cognitive disability.
The results also show new technology could make it easier to gather data from people with severe MS.
The goal is to figure out where people are on their MS journey, so researchers know which drugs might be able to help them.
While that data is valuable, there's also a personal factor.
The study matched up people from the Western New York group with mild and moderate MS with people from the Boston group with severe MS.
"It's really heartbreaking that they come to understand, you know, who their research counterpart was and how he's doing and what problems he/she is facing," said Dr. Robert Zivadinov, Director of the Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center, Professor of Neurology, and Professor of Biomedical Informatics at the Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences.
After the study became public, participants asked if they could meet their matches. The ethical committee said yes.
Virginia Thompson was diagnosed with MS 25 years ago. She's one of the 53 people from Buffalo participating in the study.
"I'm always one for studies because I've always wanted to help people," said Thompson. "Because I've had help, and so I want other people to be able to research and to find out what's going on and try to get a cure for it."
Thompson said if you are diagnosed with MS, having a strong support system is important. She said she enjoyed meeting her match, Sarah.
"It was wonderful to meet her. She was such a sweet lady, and we clicked, and we're kind of like twins like they said, you know, started around the same time. I think I started maybe a year or two before her with MS, and we both worked for a while until we couldn't work anymore, and so yeah, it was nice to see someone who is going through the struggle like you are," said Thompson.
Phase two of the study is expected to start sometime next year. Researchers are applying for federal funding and are also accepting private donations.