Abstract: Objective: To explore the diagnostic value of diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) the microstructure changes of substantianigra in patients with early Parkinson's disease (PD). Methods: 30 patients with early PD were collected as the PD group while 20 healthy volunteers as the control group. All the subjects underwent brain routine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and DKI examination. The DKI scan data were processed to obtain quantitative parameter maps, with the three paramrters as fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD) and mean kurtosis (MK). The DKI parameters of substantianigra (SN) were measured respectively and the differences between the two groups were statistically analyzed. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of DKI parameters in patients with early PD. Results: The FA value of the substantianigra of the PD group was lower than that of the healthy control group, and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant. Compared with the healthy control group, the MD value of the substantianigra in the PD group was slightly higher, and the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant. The MK value of the substantianigra in the PD group was significantly higher than that in the healthy control group, and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant. The ROC curve showed the AUC of FA value, MD value and MK value in the substantianigra in the diagnosis of early PD were 0.716, 0.613 and 0.820, respectively. The substantianigra MK value showed certain accuracy in the diagnosis of early PD patients, and the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity were higher than the FA value and MD value. Conclusions: DKI can be used to analyze the changes of the microstructure of substantianigra in early PD patients, and the MK value can better reflect the changes of the microstructure of substantianigra in early PD patients.