Purpose To evaluate the utility of diffusion kurtosis imaging(DKI)and the derived parameters to separate papillary thyroid carcinoma(PTC)from benign nodules with histopathological paraffin section analysis after thyroidectomy as reference standard.Materials and Methods Magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)examination at 3.0T MR unit including DKI(with b values of 0,500,1000,1500 and 2000)and conventional DWI(b= 0 and 750)was performed in 54 patients with thyroid nodules.The single-shot echo planar imaging(SS-EPI)spin echo sequence was adopted and a calibration scan was performed before scanning to reduce Nyquist(N/2)ghosting artifacts.Regions of interest(ROIs)were carefully placed on the lesion avoiding cyst,calcification and the margin.Apparent diffusion coefficient(ADC)values were measured using monoexponential model while DKI coefficients including diffusion coefficients(D)and kurtosis(K)were acquired using diffusion kurtosis model.Mean ADC,D and K values of PTC were compared to those of benign nodules using two independent sample t-test.The areas under the curve(AUCs),sensitivity and specificity of these coefficients were acquired by the ROC curves.