  Advances in imaging and early cancer detection have increased interest in
magnetic resonance (MR) guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) technologies for
cancer treatment. MRgFUS ablation treatments could reduce surgical risks,
preserve organ tissue/function, and improve patient quality of life. However,
surgical resection and histological analysis remain the gold standard to assess
cancer treatment response. For non-invasive ablation therapies such as MRgFUS,
the treatment response must be determined through MR imaging biomarkers.
However, current MR biomarkers are inconclusive and have not been rigorously
evaluated against histology via accurate registration. Existing registration
methods rely on anatomical features to directly register in vivo MR and
histology. For MRgFUS applications in anatomies such as liver, kidney, or
breast, anatomical features independent from treatment features are often
insufficient to perform direct registration. We present a novel MR to histology
registration workflow that utilizes intermediate imaging and does not rely on
these independent features. The presented workflow yields an overall
registration accuracy of 1.00 +/- 0.13 mm. The developed registration pipeline
is used to evaluate a common MRgFUS treatment assessment biomarker against
histology. Evaluating MR biomarkers against histology using this registration
pipeline will facilitate validating novel MRgFUS biomarkers to improve
treatment assessment without surgical intervention.
