Discrete and geometric Branch and Bound algorithms for medical image registration

Aiming at the development of an exact solution method for registration problems, we present two different Branch & Bound algorithms for a mixed integer programming formulation of the problem. The first B&B algorithm branches on binary assignment variables and makes use of an optimality condition that is derived from a graph matching formulation. The second, geometric B&B algorithm applies a geometric branching strategy on continuous transformation variables. The two approaches are compared for synthetic test examples as well as for 2-dimensional medical data. The results show that medium sized problem instances can be solved to global optimality in a reasonable amount of time.