A method implemented using at least one processor includes receiving a target image and a reference image. The target image is a distorted magnetic resonance image and the reference image is an undistorted magnetic resonance image. The method further includes selecting an image registration method for registering the target image to the reference image, wherein the image registration method uses an image transformation. The method further includes performing image registration of the target image with the reference image, wherein the image registration provides a plurality of optimized parameters of the image transformation. The method also includes generating a corrected image based on the target image and the plurality of optimized parameters of the image transformation.