Automatic registration of postmortem brain slices to MRI reference volume

A new strategy to register each slice of the postmortem brain to corresponding MRI slices is presented. The approach relies on a recursive reslicing of the 3D MRI volume using nonlinear polynomial transformations. Simulation studies to validate the approach and results using real data are presented. The results suggest the feasibility and practicability of second and third-order polynomials to register postmortem images on a slice-by-slice basis to corresponding MR sections. Using this method, it is possible to investigate the pathology of a disease through routinely acquired MRIs and postmortem brains.