diff --git a/monai/data/image_writer.py b/monai/data/image_writer.py
index b467a5ae991..94b31c164c5 100644
--- a/monai/data/image_writer.py
+++ b/monai/data/image_writer.py
@@ -414,9 +414,12 @@ def set_data_array(
             spatial_ndim=kwargs.pop("spatial_ndim", 3),
             contiguous=kwargs.pop("contiguous", True),
         )
-        self.channel_dim = (
-            channel_dim if self.data_obj is not None and len(self.data_obj.shape) >= _r else None
-        )  # channel dim is at the end
+        if channel_dim is None:
+            self.channel_dim = -1  # after convert_to_channel_last the last dim is the channel
+        else:
+            self.channel_dim = (
+                channel_dim if self.data_obj is not None and len(self.data_obj.shape) >= _r else None
+            )  # channel dim is at the end
 
     def set_metadata(self, meta_dict: Mapping | None = None, resample: bool = True, **options):
         """
diff --git a/tests/test_itk_writer.py b/tests/test_itk_writer.py
index 869ec7b9472..931c74bb4be 100644
--- a/tests/test_itk_writer.py
+++ b/tests/test_itk_writer.py
@@ -52,6 +52,16 @@ def test_rgb(self):
             np.testing.assert_allclose(output.shape, (5, 5, 3))
             np.testing.assert_allclose(output[1, 1], (5, 5, 4))
 
+    def test_no_channel(self):
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tempdir:
+            fname = os.path.join(tempdir, "testing.nii.gz")
+            writer = ITKWriter(output_dtype=np.uint8)
+            writer.set_data_array(np.arange(48).reshape(3, 4, 4), channel_dim=None)
+            writer.write(fname)
+
+            output = np.asarray(itk.imread(fname))
+            np.testing.assert_allclose(output.shape, (4, 3, 4))
+            np.testing.assert_allclose(output[1, 1], (20, 21, 22, 23))
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     unittest.main()