Procedural moderate sedation in patients with opioid addiction and chronic pain: a practical primer for the radiologist

Abstract

Opioid use disorder and chronic pain are increasingly commonly encountered in medicine and many patients now are prescribed medications (such as buprenorphine) to help treat these conditions. Many radiologists are unfamiliar with how these medications work and how they impact providing procedural sedation during procedures in the radiology department. The focus of this manuscript is to provide radiologists background and guidance on how these medications interact with medications given for procedural sedation and the appropriate management strategy for patients with opioid use disorder and chronic pain who require procedural sedation.

Keywords: Biopsy; Buprenorphine; Chronic pain; Moderate sedation; Opioid; Procedure.