Eellan Sivanesan, MD

Dr. Eellan Sivanesan serves as the Director of Neuromodulation and an Associate Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is a Johns Hopkins expert in complex pain, cancer-related pain, and neuromodulation whose clinical and research work focuses on developing and advancing treatments for patients suffering from severe chronic pain, cancer-related pain, nerve injury, and chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. His clinical practice includes the full spectrum of advanced pain management, including medication management, image-guided procedures, minimally invasive spine procedures, and neuromodulation therapies such as spinal cord stimulation, dorsal root ganglion stimulation, peripheral nerve stimulation, and intrathecal drug delivery. He treats patients with complex pain conditions at the Johns Hopkins Blaustein Pain Treatment Center, with a focus on patients who have not responded to traditional treatments. Patients seek his expertise from across the United States and internationally for complex pain conditions, cancer pain, and advanced pain therapies. His research program at Johns Hopkins focuses on developing new treatments for chronic pain and cancer-related pain, and philanthropic support helps advance this research and clinical trials for patients suffering from these conditions.

In addition to complex neuromodulation cases, Dr. Sivanesan treats a wide range of pain conditions at the Blaustein Pain Treatment Center, including chronic back, joint, abdominal, pelvic, facial, and headache pain, as well as neuropathic pain, cancer-related pain, complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), and post-amputation pain. His clinical expertise includes advanced image-guided procedures using fluoroscopy and ultrasound to target the spine, peripheral nerves, muscles, and joints. He also performs radiofrequency ablation, chemodenervation (such as botulinum toxin injections), and neurolytic procedures to relieve severe or cancer-related pain when appropriate.

Dr. Sivanesan specializes in advanced neuromodulation and minimally invasive spine procedures to manage complex chronic pain conditions. He is frequently invited to speak nationally and internationally on neuromodulation, minimally invasive spine procedures, and cancer-related pain. His expertise includes spinal cord stimulation, dorsal root ganglion (DRG) stimulation, peripheral nerve stimulation, craniofacial stimulation, basivertebral nerve ablation (Intracept), vertebral augmentation procedures (such as vertebroplasty, kyphoplasty, and SpineJack), and intrathecal drug delivery. He has introduced numerous new pain treatment modalities to The Johns Hopkins Health System, including minimally invasive lumbar decompression, interspinous spacers, temporary peripheral nerve stimulation, closed-loop spinal cord stimulation, wireless spinal cord and peripheral nerve stimulation, restorative neurostimulation, and multiple other neuromodulation and minimally invasive spine advancements.

Dr. Sivanesan serves in editorial leadership roles for Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, Pain Medicine (Section-Neuromodulation and Minimally Invasive Spine), Neuromodulation, and Molecular Pain. He has also served as an invited ad hoc reviewer for NIH study sections in pain and neuromodulation. In addition, he serves as core faculty for clinician-scientist and interdisciplinary pain research training programs at Johns Hopkins and participates in committees of the International Neuromodulation Society (INS), the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (ASRA), the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), and the North American Neuromodulation Society (NANS).

Dr. Sivanesan’s neuromodulation and cancer pain research, conducted through the Sivanesan Neuromodulation Laboratory at Johns Hopkins, is focused on developing new treatments to help patients suffering from severe chronic pain, nerve injury, and cancer-related pain. He has received research funding from the National Cancer Institute and the National Institutes of Health, as well as other national foundations, to study neuromodulation and cancer-related pain. His laboratory is particularly interested in the use of targeted electrical stimulation, including spinal cord stimulation, for painful chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy and cancer-related pain. His work has been published in The Lancet, Anesthesiology, Neuromodulation, Pain, Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, The British Journal of Anaesthesia, Journal of Clinical Anesthesia, Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, Journal of Pain & Palliative Care Pharmacotherapy, Pain Reports, Pain Medicine, Anesthesia and Analgesia, Neuroscience Bulletin, and Molecular Pain, and featured on the covers of Anesthesia & Analgesia and Neuromodulation. Philanthropic support helps advance research, clinical trials, and innovative treatments for patients suffering from chronic pain, nerve injury, and cancer-related pain.

Education: After graduating from The University of Oklahoma with a dual bachelor of science in Biochemistry and Zoology, Dr. Sivanesan completed medical school at The University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. He then completed an anesthesiology residency (clinical scientist track) and pain medicine fellowship at The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, followed by a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral research fellowship for clinician-scientists. Dr. Sivanesan has received research awards from the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, the Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Foundation, the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (ASRA), the Thompson Family Foundation, and the Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research (FAER).

Contact Dr. Eellan Sivanesan

Johns Hopkins Blaustein Pain Treatment Center
Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center
601 North Caroline Street, Suite 3062
Baltimore, MD 21287

Appointment Information: 410-955-PAIN (7246)
Phone: 410-955-7246
Fax: 410-367-2047

Directions: Directions to the Outpatient Center