28. The image processing system of claim 19 , wherein the first type of biological region is an occlusive plaque region.
19. An image processing system configured to process medical image data, comprising: a memory configured to store a medical image data set; and a processor configured to apply an array of two or more multi-stage classifiers to the medical image data set, wherein at least one of the multi-stage classifiers comprises a first classifier and a second classifier, the first classifier having a sensitivity configured to identify a subset of the medical image data set with one or more characteristics similar to a specified biological region, and the second classifier having a specificity configured to confirm the presence, or absence, of the specified biological region within the subset and wherein at least one of the multi-stage classifiers is designed to identify only a first type of biological region and at least another one of the multi-stage classifiers is designed to identify only a second type of biological region different from the first type, wherein the first type of biological region is selected from an occlusive plaque region and a vulnerable plague region.