A method and system for object detection using a probabilistic boosting cascade tree (PBCT) is disclosed. A PBCT is a machine learning based classifier having a structure that is driven by training data and determined during the training process without user input. In a PBCT training method, for each node in the PBCT, a classifier is trained for the node based on training data received at the node. The performance of the classifier trained for the node is then evaluated based on the training data. Based on the performance of the classifier, the node is set to either a cascade node or a tree node. If the performance indicates that the data is relatively easy to classify, the node can be set as a cascade node. If the performance indicates that the data is relatively difficult to classify, the node can be set as a tree node. The trained PBCT can then be used to detect objects or classify data. For example, a trained PBCT can be used to detect lymph nodes in CT volume data.