Method and apparatus for providing information needed for diagnosis of lymph node metastasis of thyroid cancer

An apparatus for providing information needed for diagnosis of lymph node metastasis of a thyroid cancer, the apparatus comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory for storing a program executable by the processor,
• wherein the processor executes the program to acquire medical images produced correspondingly to continuous volumes of a body region including a neck, detect at least one or more lymph nodes from the medical images through a first network function learned, divide a neck tissue around a thyroid into a plurality of compartments on the medical images through a second network function learned, based on anatomical characteristics of the neck tissue, calculate cancer metastasis seriousness, based on at least one of a number of lymph nodes included in respective compartments, volumes of the lymph nodes, and cancer metastasis risks of the lymph nodes, match diagnostic information including information of the detected lymph nodes and the plurality of compartments with the medical images, and display the diagnostic information on the medical images,
• wherein the lymph nodes comprise at least one or more lymph nodes having higher lymph node metastasis risks than a given reference value, and
• wherein the diagnostic information comprises at least one of identifiers of the lymph nodes, position coordinates of the lymph nodes, the volumes of the lymph nodes, compartments where the lymph nodes are included, the cancer metastasis risks of the lymph nodes, and the cancer metastasis seriousness for the respective compartments.