Pain Research  

The UC San Diego Center for Pain Medicine is an active and fruitful environment for both basic and clinical research with a demonstrated track record of pushing the limits of our knowledge of chronic pain conditions and their treatment.  Areas of active and past investigation include: 

• Complex regional pain syndrome
• Medical marijuana
• Cancer-related pain
• Post-laminectomy syndrome
• Spinal cord stimulation
• Vagal nerve stimulation
• Intrathecal drug delivery

We currently have the following IRB-approved clinical research studies:

1. Bisphosphonates for the treatment of complex regional pain syndrome type I
   -Enrolling patients recently diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS, RSD)
2. Vagal nerve stimulation for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis
   -Enrolling patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA)
3. Biomarkers of pain in patients with multiple sclerosis
   -Enrolling patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) who have severe pain, patients with multiple sclerosis who do not have pain, and healthy volunteers

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​Imanuel Lerman, MD High Frequency Spinal Cord Stimulation Effects on Brain and Pain Contact to Participate: Albert Chiu - achiu@vapop.ucsd.edu - 858-552-8585 ext. 7438

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​Jeffrey Chen, MD Evaluation of High Frequency Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS) on Intra-epidermal Nerve Fibers and Corneal Confocal Microscopy in Diabetic Peripheral Neurpathy(DPN) Contact to Participate: Katie Lam - kklam@ucsd.edu - 858-822-0787

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​Krishnan Chakravarthy, MD A Prospective, Open Label, Long term, Multi center,Registry to Assess the Safety and Efficacy of the Bioness StimRouter Neuromodulation System in Subjects with Chronic Pain of Peripheral nerve Origin Contact to Participate: Katie Lam - kklam@ucsd.edu Alyssa Chu - c1zhu@ucsd.edu

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​​Krishnan Chakravarthy, MD Dorsal Column Stimulation and Increased Functional Outcome Feasibility Study Contact to Participate: Katie Lam - kklam@ucsd.edu Ryan Fraiser - rfraiser@ucsd.edu

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​​Krishnan Chakravarthy, MD Pain Assessment for Interventional Neuromodulation (P.A.I.N)- Machine Learning Enabled Automated Assessment of Pain Study Contact to Participate: Katie Lam - kklam@ucsd.edu

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​​Krishnan Chakravarthy, MD CRD - 960 Prolong Study Contact to Participate: Katie Lam - kklam@ucsd.edu

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​Farshad Ahadian, MD Discovery 6603 A Multicenter, Randomized, Double Blind, Sham Controlled, Comparative Study of SI 660 in Subjects with Lumar Disc Herniation Contact to Participate: Donna - dbrusch@ucsd.edu- 858-822-2649 Yasmeen- 858-534-4449

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​​Farshad Ahadian, MD C.L.E.A.R- Corticosteriod Lumbar Epidural Analgesia for Rediculopathy Contact to Participate: Donna - dbrusch@ucsd.edu- 858-822-2649 Yasmeen- 858-534-4449

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​Fadel Zeidan, PhD The Effects oF Mindfulness-based Training on Chronic Low Back Pain Contact to Participate: Zeidan Laboratory - zeidanlab@ucsd.edu - 858-245-2029 ext.62028

If you are interested in participating in one of these clinical trials, please contact one of our study coordinators:

Katie Lam: (858) 822-0787
Lucinda Martin: (858) 822-0460