Brain-related injuries are a major public health concern in the United States, and an estimated 70,000 to 90,000 people per year consequently suffer from significant and/or irreversible disabilities following traumatic brain injury. While the severity of head motion, namely acceleration, can be a good indicator of the cause of injury, a measure of the stresses and strains placed on the brain during trauma has yet to be realized due to an inability to directly observe brain motion and deformation under such conditions in real time. Such measures may be equally important in characterizing brain motion under non-traumatic conditions, such as cerebellar tonsillar ectopia, where it is speculated that motion of the cerebellar tonsils is dramatically increased.

The objective of this dissertation was to investigate transcranial ultrasound as a potential modality for direct, real-time observation of brain motion. To test this approach in controlled laboratory experiments a custom ultrasound system was designed and a custom head model comprising an ex-vivo human skull and brain tissue-mimicking phantom matched for acoustic velocity and mechanical stiffness to human brain was developed. The portability, affordability and real-time visualization capability of this model system present a unique tool for investigating brain motion under aberrant conditions and may aid in clinical decision-making.