Objective Using 3T T1 weighted magnetic resonance imaging and quantitative susceptibility mapping to analyse the early-stage Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients’volume and susceptibility value changes of deep gray matter nuclei, and to explore the significance of susceptibility values in diagnosis of early-stage PD, as well as observability of nigrosome-1 in this study.  

 Methods 3.0T MRI scans were performed in 30 early-stage PD patients and 27 age-, sex- and education matched healthy controls. Bilateral caudate, putamen, globus pallidus, substantia nigra and red nucleus were segmented. Their volumes and susceptibility values were calculated. SPSS 20.0 software was used to analyze the differences between the two groups. We also performed a logistic regression using the susceptibility values.   Results There was no difference in the standardized volume of the above nuclei between the early-stage PD patients and the healthy controls. The susceptibility values of the right globus pallidus, the left substantia nigra and the right substantia nigra (P<0.05) in the early-stage Parkinson’s disease group were significantly higher than those in the healthy controls. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve obtained by logistic regression using susceptibility values was 0.93. Nigrosome-1 was seen in 21 healthy controls and 1 early-stage PD patient.   Conclusion As a marker of early diagnosis of PD, the susceptibility value has high application value. Nigrosome-1 in most healthy controls can be displayed on quantitative susceptibility images, but more accurate studies of nigrosome-1 require quantitative susceptibility mapping at submillimeter resolution.