Most approaches assume a slice-to-slice correspondence between the histopathology images and T2 weighted (T2w) MRI slices. Some partial correspondence commonly results from the gross sectioning of the prostate in histologic preparation which is done perpendicular to the urethra. Yet, more advanced methods have been introduced to enforce such correspondences. For example, three dimensional (3D) printed patient-specific molds [@turkbey_multiparametric_2011] have been used [@kalavagunta_registration_2015; @reynolds_development_2015; @wu_system_2019] to help preserve the correspondences during tissue sectioning. Some studies additionally included blockface picture [@park_registration_2008], ex vivo MRI [@reynolds_development_2015; @wu_system_2019; @park_registration_2008; @ward_prostate:_2012] or external fiducials [@ward_prostate:_2012] to help improve the accuracy of the registration. Yet, these approaches required modifications of the clinical protocols usually resulting in only a small number of subjects to be recruited for such research studies.

Once correspondences between the histopathology images and T2w MRI are identified, their registration can still be challenging, partially due to the artifacts induced by the tissue preparation. Textural features [@chappelow_elastic_2011; @li_co-registration_2017] have been proposed, yet they may be cumbersome to use due to the high-dimensional scoring function optimization and the choice of textural features. Other approaches rely solely on image intensity to drive the deformable alignment [@losnegard_intensity-based_2018; @rusu_framework_2019], but require accurate affine alignment prior to the deformable 