Neuroimaging in Clinical Geriatric Psychiatry

Brain imaging has evolved to facilitate our understanding of structural and functional correlates of depressive, psychotic, anxiety, neurocognitive, and other psychiatric disorders encountered in the clinical practice of geriatric psychiatry. The application of brain imaging techniques as diagnostic or therapeutic monitoring tools is still evolving. Today, brain imaging is both a clinical and a research tool. Some imaging modalities have current clinical indications, mainly in ruling out treatable or modifiable illnesses that present with behavioral and/or cognitive symptoms in old age, and some require further validation to improve their predictive value. Clinicians need to use brain imaging tools wisely and in the broader context of various clinical data sources (e.g., history, examination, laboratory studies) to more focally define, explain, and, ultimately, manage clinical syndromes. In this chapter, we provide an overview of currently available neuroimaging modalities, orient clinicians to structural and functional neuroanatomy, provide case examples on how neuroimaging can support the clinical diagnostic process, and offer suggestion on how to use neuroimaging optimally in geriatric psychiatry clinics.