A method includes identifying a divergent region of interest (DRI) not including a post dominator node thereof within a control flow graph, and introducing a decision node in the control flow graph such that the decision node post-dominates an entry point of the DRI and is dominated by the entry point. The method also includes redirecting a regular control flow path within the control flow graph from another node previously coupled to the DRI to the decision node, and redirecting a runaway path from the another node to the decision node. Further, the method includes marking the runaway path to differentiate the runaway path from the regular control flow path, and directing control flow from the decision node to an originally intended destination of each of the regular control flow path and the runaway path based on the marking to provide for program thread synchronization and optimization within the DRI.