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Magnetic resonance (MR) studies have demonstrated a significant reduction of neuromelanin in the substantia nigra (SN) of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with high accuracy for differential diagnosis compared to non‐PD controls and essential tremor. However, studies state that not knowing how paramagnetic effects of iron influence neuromelanin signal is a limitation. In this study a neuromelanin‐sensitive MR sequence was combined with T2* relaxometry iron quantification analysis to study the SN of early‐stage PD patients to investigate the correlation between these parameters.

The inclusion criteria were untreated de novo PD patients and a 2–5 year disease duration (early PD); in addition, age‐matched controls were enrolled. These were studied at 3.0 T with a high‐resolution T1‐weighted MR sequence to visualize neuromelanin and a relaxometry sequence for iron …