New persistent opioid use after surgery is common and is not significantly different between minor and major surgical procedures but rather associated with behavioral and pain disorders. This suggests its use is not due to surgical pain but addressable patient-level predictors. New persistent opioid use represents a common but previously underappreciated surgical complication that warrants increased awareness.

Background Growing use of imaging procedures in the United States has raised concerns about exposure to low-dose ionizing radiation in the general population. Methods We identified 952,420 non-elderly adults in 5 healthcare markets across the United States between July 1, 2005 and December 31, 2007. Utilization data were used to determine cumulative effective doses of radiation from imaging procedures in millisieverts (mSv) and to calculate population-based rates of “moderate” (>3 to 20 mSv per year), “high” (>20 to 50 mSv per year) and “very-high” (>50 mSv per year) doses. Results During the study period, 655,613 (68.8%) individuals underwent at least 1 imaging procedure associated with radiation exposure. The mean effective dose from imaging procedures was 2.4 mSv per person per year (std dev, 6.0 mSv); however, a wide distribution was noted with a median effective dose of 0.1 mSv per person per year (interquartile range, 0.0 to 1.7). Overall, the annual rate for moderate effective doses in the study population was 193.8 per 1000 enrollees, while high and very-high doses occurred at annual rates of 18.6 per 1000 enrollees and 1.9 per 1000 enrollees, respectively. In general, effective doses of radiation from imaging procedures increased with advancing age and were higher in women. Computed tomography and nuclear medicine scans accounted for 75.4% of the total effective dose and 81.8% occurred in non-hospitalized settings. Conclusions Imaging procedures are an important source of ionizing radiation in the United States and can lead to high radiation doses in patients.

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