Abstract: Diabetic nephropathy(DN)is one of main chronic microvascular complications of diabetes mellitus(DM).Previous early diagnosis of DN mainly relied on medical history,laboratory examination and renal biopsy,but laboratory examination was easily affected by physiology,pathology and other factors.Renal biopsy was invasive and difficult to be accepted.Therefore,it is of great significance to explore new technologies for early diagnosis of DN.Diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging(DWI)and intravoxel incoherent motion magnetic resonance imaging(IVIM-MR)can indirectly reflect the changes of tissue microstructure by detecting the Brownian motion of water molecules in living tissues,and can study the pathophysiological status of diseases at the cellular and molecular levels.It may bring new methods to the diagnosis of DN.This article reviews the progress of application o DWI and IVIM in the diagnosis of DN in recent years.