A New Image Registration algorithm with application to 3D Histopathology

A method for automatic 2D image registration based on combining multiple row-wise and column-wise dynamic programming (DP) processes is presented. Combination is performed by means of a parametric transform (either rigid or non-rigid) which is estimated from the output of the dynamic programming processes. The method performs particularly well on histopathology images as dynamic programming is a global optimisation method with the ability to overcome local optima often encountered when registering such images. Our method has been applied to reconstruction of volumetric data from histopathology sections by serial application to successive pairs of images. An evaluation is presented that confirms our method compares favourably with state-of-the-art methods both in terms of accuracy and computational cost for this task. Microscopic 3D Histopathology has potential application in the analysis of anatomy and atlas building (e.g. in transgenic mice) and the analysis of tissue structure (e.g. in Liver disease).