Recent developments in neuroimaging have revolutionized medicine and aided in our understanding of how biological abnormalities may contribute to clinical presentation. While such advances have begun to enhance our knowledge about the timing of abnormalities, it remains unclear at this time how neuroimaging impacts the clinical course of the patient. In addition, much debate exists regarding the clinical necessity of neuroimaging for psychiatric conditions, and there are contradictory reports and guidelines for the application of conventional brain imaging (MRI and CT) in the evaluation of patients with mental illness.

We aim to review the clinical utility of neuroimaging in an acute psychiatric setting, and hypothesize that there will be no significant differences between the outcome of neuroimaging and clinical course for patients.

We conducted a retrospective chart review of adult patients who were diagnosed and treated for psychiatric conditions on an inpatient psychiatric service over a period of 36 months July 1, 2013–June 30, 2016.

While imaging advances have added to our understanding of biological abnormalities and can aid in ruling out organic causes of psychiatric illness, at this time it is not guiding clinical management for patients.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.