Several studies have shown regional disruptions in white matter integrity following TBI although conventional methods don't account for the relationship between regions. In this study we used factor analysis, a data reduction technique, to identify patterns of WM injury that are associated with neurocognitive outcome in pediatric TBI patients. Our findings identified 3 dominant patterns of WM injury in pediatric TBI patients, describing regional changes in: 1) subcortical + cortical diffusivity, 2) subcortical diffusivity, and 3) subcortical + cortical anisotropy. Factor analysis provides a unique statistical approach to analyze DTI data and potentially could be used to combine different data streams (DTI, MR spectroscopy, SWI) representing different elements of injury.
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