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Kevin Vorenkamp

Associate Professor of Anesthesiology
Anesthesiology, Pain Management

Selected Publications


Duke Health Integrated Pain and Wellness Program — A Proactive Population Health Model

Journal Article NEJM Catalyst Innovations in Care Delivery · March 20, 2024 The Duke Integrated Pain and Wellness (IPW) program integrates early identification and stratification of patients at risk for poor pain outcomes, leveraging a validated two-question screening tool across select Duke Health primary and multispecialty clini ... Full text Cite

Cost Savings in Chronic Pain Patients Initiating Peripheral Nerve Stimulation (PNS) with a 60-Day PNS Treatment

Journal Article Pain and Therapy · January 1, 2024 Introduction: This study evaluates the financial impact on healthcare payers when chronic pain patients initiate peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS) with a 60-day percutaneous PNS (60-Day PNS) treatment versus a conventional brief PNS trial (PNS-BT) with po ... Full text Cite

An unusual intrathecal baclofen pump failure thirteen months after implantation

Journal Article Interventional Pain Medicine · December 1, 2023 Objective: To report a case of intrathecal pump failure following months of diminishing benefit from intrathecal baclofen, and to heighten awareness that intrathecal pump malfunction can occur without precipitating events. Case report: A 40 year-old woman ... Full text Cite

Multidisciplinary simulation of local anaesthetic systemic toxicity improves diagnostic and treatment skills and self-confidence for pain clinic procedural staff.

Journal Article BMJ Open Qual · April 2023 UNLABELLED: Local anaesthetic systemic toxicity (LAST) is a rare complication after outpatient interventional pain procedures, which can present as an emergent and life-threatening condition. Proficiency and confidence in managing this rare situation neces ... Full text Link to item Cite

Birds of a Feather Redux: Defining Ways to Stimulate the Peripheral Nervous System.

Journal Article J Pain Res · 2023 Peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS) has become an essential component in the pain management plan for individuals suffering from peripheral nerve-mediated pain. The recent surge in interest in PNS can be attributed to the advancements in imaging techniques ... Full text Link to item Cite

Challenges in Utilizing Telehealth for Chronic Pain.

Journal Article Curr Pain Headache Rep · August 2022 PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Chronic pain in the USA has presented with higher prevalence rates among women, older adults, those unemployed, living in poverty, living in rural environments, and adults with public health insurance. The COVID-19 pandemic has heavily p ... Full text Link to item Cite

Telemedicine Implementation in Pain Medicine: A Survey Evaluation of Pain Medicine Practices in Spring 2020.

Journal Article Pain Physician · August 2022 BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a novel challenge for healthcare delivery and implementation in the United States (US) in 2020 and beyond. Telemedicine arose as a significant and effective medium for safe and efficacious physician-patient int ... Link to item Cite

Sympathetic Blocks for Visceral Pain.

Journal Article Phys Med Rehabil Clin N Am · May 2022 For patients with chronic pain or cancer-related pain, the most common indication for sympathetic block is to control visceral pain arising from malignancies or other alterations of the abdominal and pelvic viscera. When it is recalcitrant to conservative ... Full text Link to item Cite

An evidence-based review of CGRP mechanisms in the propagation of chronic visceral pain.

Journal Article Best Pract Res Clin Anaesthesiol · September 2020 Chronic pain is typically defined as pain that persists after acute tissue damage and inflammation or as pain that follows a chronic disease process and lasts more than three months. Because of its debilitating impact on the quality of life of patients, re ... Full text Link to item Cite

Consensus practice guidelines on interventions for lumbar facet joint pain from a multispecialty, international working group.

Journal Article Reg Anesth Pain Med · June 2020 BACKGROUND: The past two decades have witnessed a surge in the use of lumbar facet blocks and radiofrequency ablation (RFA) to treat low back pain (LBP), yet nearly all aspects of the procedures remain controversial. METHODS: After approval by the Board of ... Full text Link to item Cite

Treatment of Chronic Abdominal Pain With 10-kHz Spinal Cord Stimulation: Safety and Efficacy Results From a 12-Month Prospective, Multicenter, Feasibility Study.

Journal Article Clin Transl Gastroenterol · February 2020 INTRODUCTION: Chronic abdominal pain (CAP) can arise from multiple conditions, including inflammatory disorders, trauma because of injury or surgery, or structural or functional causes. This prospective, single-arm study was designed to evaluate the safety ... Full text Link to item Cite

Improving pain care through telemedicine: Future or folly?

Journal Article Pain Medicine (United States) · June 1, 2016 Full text Cite

Safeguards to prevent neurologic complications after epidural steroid injections: consensus opinions from a multidisciplinary working group and national organizations.

Journal Article Anesthesiology · May 2015 BACKGROUND: Epidural corticosteroid injections are a common treatment for radicular pain caused by intervertebral disc herniations, spinal stenosis, and other disorders. Although rare, catastrophic neurologic injuries, including stroke and spinal cord inju ... Full text Link to item Cite

Postoperative oxycodone toxicity in a patient with chronic pain and end-stage renal disease.

Journal Article A A Case Rep · February 15, 2015 We present this case to review the metabolism of oxycodone and the effects of end-stage renal disease on the elimination of oxycodone and its metabolites. A 42-year-old female with end-stage renal disease who was dependent on hemodialysis presented for lef ... Full text Link to item Cite

Sacroiliac joint radiofrequency ablation with a multilesion probe: a case series of 60 patients.

Journal Article Anesth Analg · August 2014 This retrospective case series of patients with refractory sacroiliac joint (SIJ) pain presents our first 77 SIJ radiofrequency ablation (RFA) procedures performed with a multilesion probe. Of these, 16 (20.8%) provided no relief; 55 (71.4%) provided >50% ... Full text Link to item Cite

Interventional procedures for facial pain.

Journal Article Curr Pain Headache Rep · January 2013 Interventional pain procedures are critical in the diagnosis and management of a variety of facial pain conditions. Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is the most frequent diagnosis for facial pain, with a reported prevalence 10 times greater than persistent idiopa ... Full text Link to item Cite

Beyond opioid patient-controlled analgesia: a systematic review of analgesia after major spine surgery.

Journal Article Reg Anesth Pain Med · 2012 Postoperative pain control in patients undergoing spine surgery remains a challenge for the anesthesiologist. In addition to incisional pain, these patients experience pain arising from deeper tissues such as bones, ligaments, muscles, intervertebral disks ... Full text Link to item Cite

Diagnostic celiac plexus block and outcome with neurolysis

Journal Article Techniques in Regional Anesthesia and Pain Management · January 1, 2011 Pain is one of the most troubling symptoms for many of the over 10 million cancer patients in America. For many patients, traditional medications and treatments are not effective and they are severely debilitated by their pain, causing needless suffering a ... Full text Cite

History of Spine Injections

Chapter · January 1, 2011 Full text Cite

Spontaneous resolution of nausea induced by spinal cord stimulation for failed back surgery syndrome

Journal Article Neuromodulation · October 1, 2010 Introduction: Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is used for treatment of pain arising from a variety of pathologies. Reported sideeffects related to SCS are most commonly technical complications including malfunction, lead migration, or severance. Up to date, ... Full text Cite

Patient-controlled analgesia.

Journal Article J Neurosurg · August 2009 Full text Link to item Cite