A diagnosis supporting apparatus comprising: an image input section configured to input an endoscopic image acquired from a living tissue; a structure detection section configured to detect a plurality of similar circular-shaped structures from an image signal corresponding to the endoscopic image inputted to the image input section; and a network detection section configured to detect a predetermined network shape in the endoscopic image, based on a number of the similar circular-shaped structures detected by the structure detection section, areas of the similar circular-shaped structures, distances between the respective similar circular-shaped structures, or a number of connections between the respective similar circular-shaped structures, characterized in that the network detection section further comprises a structure connection section configured to, only with respect to ones of the plurality of similar circular-shaped structures detected by the structure detection section which satisfy the condition that the distances between center points of the respective similar circular-shaped structures are equal to or smaller than a predetermined distance, connect the similar circular-shaped structures to each other by respectively adding regions having predetermined areas corresponding to the respective distances between the similar circular-shaped structures; an overlapping integration section configured to integrate the regions overlapping to each other into one aggregation; a threshold processing section configured to perform a threshold processing of deleting a block having a number of the regions overlapping to each other which is equal to or smaller than a predetermined threshold; and a network shape generation section configured to generate a predetermined network shape in which the outside of a block that remains after the threshold processing is formed in a convex shape, wherein an overlapping degree of the regions in an aggregation of the regions having the predetermined areas generated by the structure connection section is detected with respect to all of the similar circular-shaped structures detected by the structure detection section, and a candidate region of the predetermined network shape is detected based on an aggregation of the regions having an overlapping degree which is equal to or larger than a first threshold. an image input section configured to input an endoscopic image acquired from a living tissue; a structure detection section configured to detect a plurality of similar circular-shaped structures from an image signal corresponding to the endoscopic image inputted to the image input section; and a network detection section configured to detect a predetermined network shape in the endoscopic image, based on a number of the similar circular-shaped structures detected by the structure detection section, areas of the similar circular-shaped structures, distances between the respective similar circular-shaped structures, or a number of connections between the respective similar circular-shaped structures, characterized in that the network detection section further comprises a structure connection section configured to, only with respect to ones of the plurality of similar circular-shaped structures detected by the structure detection section which satisfy the condition that the distances between center points of the respective similar circular-shaped structures are equal to or smaller than a predetermined distance, connect the similar circular-shaped structures to each other by respectively adding regions having predetermined areas corresponding to the respective distances between the similar circular-shaped structures; an overlapping integration section configured to integrate the regions overlapping to each other into one aggregation; a threshold processing section configured to perform a threshold processing of deleting a block having a number of the regions overlapping to each other which is equal to or smaller than a predetermined threshold; and a network shape generation section configured to generate a predetermined network shape in which the outside of a block that remains after the threshold processing is formed in a convex shape, wherein an overlapping degree of the regions in an aggregation of the regions having the predetermined areas generated by the structure connection section is detected with respect to all of the similar circular-shaped structures detected by the structure detection section, and a candidate region of the predetermined network shape is detected based on an aggregation of the regions having an overlapping degree which is equal to or larger than a first threshold.