Professor of Anesthesia and Pain Medicine; Section Chief, Division of Pain Management; Director, Pain Medicine Fellowship Program, University of Chicago Medical Center
Magdalena Anitescu, MD, PhD, is a leader in the field of anesthesia and interventional pain medicine. She is experienced in ambulatory and regional anesthesia as well as in acute, perioperative and chronic pain management. She specializes in caring for patients who suffer from cancer pain, discogenic pain and low-back pain. Her primary clinical focus is on interventional pain procedures (sympathetic nerve blocks, ketamine infusions, kyphoplasty) aimed at alleviating pain due to primary and metastatic cancer. Additionally, she is involved in alleviating pain in cancer survivors.
Dr. Anitescu’s research focuses on improving the quality of life for patients with acute and chronic pain. She has studied post-operative pain management, functional anesthetic discography and the utilization of intrathecal drug delivery methods to lessen pain. She has also studied the efficacy of outpatient use of intravenous medications such as ketamine in decreasing pain scores in patients that suffer from long-standing and intractable pain.
Dr. Anitescu is a national and international educator in the field of interventional pain management. She has been an invited speaker to numerous renowned national and professional organizations. In addition to her clinical and research activities, Dr. Anitescu also mentors residents, fellows and medical students in the department of Anesthesia and Critical Care.