Abstract: Objective Using diffusion kurtosis imaging(DKI) to assess the microstructure change of substantia nigra in Parkinson's disease patients so as to explore the value of diffusion kurtosis imaging parameters in diagnosing Parkinson's disease. Methods A total of 45 Parkinson's disease patients(PD group) and 39 healthy controls(HC group) with age and gender matched were recruited in August 2017 to June 2018 from Taizhou hospital affiliated to Wenzhou medical university, underwent structural MRI and DKI examination to all participants. Fractional anisotropy(FA), mean diffusivity(MD), axial diffusivity(AD), radial diffusivity(RD), fractional anisotropy of kurtosis(FAk), mean kurtosis(MK), axial kurtosis(AK) and radial kurtosis(RK) parametric images were obtained by postprocessing with DKI data. Manually drew the outline of substantia nigra as the region of interest(ROI), then statistically compared all the parameters of substantia nigra between PD group and HC group. By using receiver operating characteristic(ROC) curve to evaluate the diagnosis efficacy of parameters with statistically significant difference. Results FA, FAk, MK and AK value of substantia nigra had significant difference between the groups(all P<0.05). FA value of substantia nigra was lower in PD group, while FAk, MK and AK value of substantia nigra were higher in PD group. Area under curve(AUC) of ROC among FA, FAk, MK and AK value of substantia nigra were 0.754, 0.875, 0.654 and 0.818, respectively. Conclusion Diffusion kurtosis imaging parameters were valuable in diagnosing Parkinson's disease, FAk value of substantia nigra had the best diagnosis efficacy.