Biomechanical characterization of ex vivo human brain using ultrasound shear wave spectroscopy

•Mechanical characterization of human brain tissue is done with ultrasound.•The technique is validated using two rheological methods.•Storage and loss modulus are measured in phantoms and ex vivo brain. The characterization of brain tissue is crucial to better understand neurological disorders. Mechanical characterization is an emerging tool in that field. The purpose of this work was to validate a transient ultrasound technique aimed at measuring dispersion of mechanical parameters of the brain tissue. The first part of this work was dedicated to the validation of that technique by comparing it with two proven rheology methods: a rotating plate rheometer, and a viscoelastic spectroscopy apparatus. Experiments were done on tissue mimicking gels. Results were compared on storage and loss modulus in the 20–100 Hz band. Our method was validated for the measurement of storage modulus dispersion, with some reserves on the measurement of loss modulus. The second part of this work was the measurement of the mechanical characteristics of ex vivo human white matter. We were able to measure the dispersion of the storage and loss modulus in the 20–100 Hz band, fitting the data with a custom power law model.