Background Hyperparathyroidism (HPT) occurs at an early age and has a high disability rate. Unfortunately,confirmed diagnosis in most patients is done at a very late stage, when the patients have shown typical symptomsand signs, and when treatment does not produce any desirable effect. It has become urgent to find a method thatwould detect early bone diseases in HPT to obtain time for the ideal treatment. This study evaluated the accuracyof high field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) combined with spiral computed tomography (SCT) scan indetecting early bone diseases in HPT, through imaging techniques and histopathological examinations on ananimal model of HPT.Methods Eighty adult rabbits were randomly divided into two groups with forty in each. The control group wasfed normal diet (Ca:P = 1:0.7); the experimental group was fed high phosphate diet (Ca:P = 1:7) for 3, 4, 5, or6-month intervals to establish the animal model of HPT. The staging and imaging findings of the early bonediseases in HPT were determined by high field MRI and SCT scan at the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th month. Each rabbitwas sacrificed after high field MRI and SCT scan, and the parathyroid and bones were removed for pathologicalexamination to evaluate the accuracy of imaging diagnosis.Results Parathyroid histopathological studies revealed hyperplasia, osteoporosis and early cortical boneresorption. The bone diseases in HPT displayed different levels of low signal intensity on T1WI and low tointermediate signal intensity on T2WI in bone of stage 0, Ⅰ, Ⅱ or Ⅲ, but showed correspondingly absent, probable,osteoporotic and subperiosteal cortical resorption on SCT scan.Conclusion High field MRI combined with SCT scan not only detects early bone diseases in HPT, but alsoindicates staging, and might be a reliable method of studying early bone diseases in HPT.