Christopher Abrecht, MD

Associate Clinical Professor
View full UCSF Profile
Biography: 

Dr. Abrecht’s primary clinical responsibility is in pain medicine: outpatient and inpatient, chronic and acute. He seeks to improve the quality of life and functional capacity of this patients using a multi-faceted approach which includes but is not limited to medication management, multi-disciplinary consultation (such as physical therapy, integrative health, or pain psychology), and targeted injections. His research focus is in quality improvement in pain medicine: tracking outcomes that matter to patients and ensuring patient safety remains a priority. In the UCSF Department of Anesthesia & Perioperative Care, he is the Chief of the Division of Pain Medicine. He is also Medical Director of the UCSF Pain Management Center.

Publications: 
Letchuman V, He L, Mummaneni PV, Agarwal N, Campbell LJ, Shabani S, Chan AK, Abrecht CR, Miller C, Sankaran S, Rambachan A, Croci R, Berven SH, Chou D, Holly LT, Guan Z. Racial Differences in Postoperative Opioid Prescribing Practices in Spine Surgical Patients. Neurosurgery. 2023 03 01; 92(3):490-496.
Nitin Agarwal, Liangliang He, Vijay Letchuman, Erica Langnas, Enrique Vargas, Rhiannon Croci, Saman Shabani, Christopher Abrecht, Sigurd H. Berven, Dean Chou, Zhonghui Guan, Praveen V. Mummaneni. 155. What are the risk factors for continued opioid use in patients following spine surgery?. The Spine Journal. 2022 Sep 1; 22(9):s82-s83.
Patel AS, Abrecht CR, Urman RD. Gabapentinoid Use in Perioperative Care and Current Controversies. Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2022 Feb; 26(2):139-144.
Amirdelfan K, Hong M, Tay B, Reddy S, Reddy V, Yang M, Khanna K, Shirvalkar P, Abrecht C, Gulati A. High-Frequency Impulse Therapy for Treatment of Chronic Back Pain: A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Pilot Study. J Pain Res. 2021; 14:2991-2999.
Abrecht CR, Saba R, Greenberg P, Rathmell JP, Urman RD. A Contemporary Medicolegal Analysis of Outpatient Interventional Pain Procedures: 2009-2016. Anesth Analg. 2019 07; 129(1):255-262.
Nantthasorn Zinboonyahgoon, Christopher R. Abrecht, Sanjeet Narang. Peripheral Nerve Blocks. Essentials of Interventional Cancer Pain Management. 2019 Jan 1; 167-181.
Abrecht CR, Cornelius M, Wu A, Jamison RN, Janfaza D, Urman RD, Campbell C, Smith M, Haythornthwaite J, Edwards RR, Schreiber KL. Prediction of Pain and Opioid Utilization in the Perioperative Period in Patients Undergoing Primary Knee Arthroplasty: Psychophysical and Psychosocial Factors. Pain Med. 2019 01 01; 20(1):161-171.
Christopher R. Abrecht. Pain Medicine Board Review. Anesthesia & Analgesia. 2018 Aug 1; 127(2):e12.
Abrecht CR, Brovman EY, Greenberg P, Song E, Rathmell JP, Urman RD. A Contemporary Medicolegal Analysis of Outpatient Medication Management in Chronic Pain. Anesth Analg. 2017 11; 125(5):1761-1768.
Abrecht CR, Greenberg P, Song E, Urman RD, Rathmell JP. A Contemporary Medicolegal Analysis of Implanted Devices for Chronic Pain Management. Anesth Analg. 2017 04; 124(4):1304-1310.
Christopher R. Abrecht, Sanjeet Narang. Intrathecal Drug Delivery. Pain Medicine. 2017 Jan 1; 389-390.
Christopher R. Abrecht, Srdjan S. Nedeljkovic. Neuropathic Pain. Pain Medicine. 2017 Jan 1; 541-543.
Christopher R. Abrecht, Assia T. Valovska. Peripheral Nerve Stimulation. Pain Medicine. 2017 Jan 1; 395-397.
Abrecht CR, Gabriel RA, Dutton RP, Kaye AD, Michna E, Urman RD. National Perioperative Outcomes for Intrathecal Pump, Spinal Cord Stimulator, and Peripheral Nerve Stimulator Procedures. Pain Physician. 2015 Nov; 18(6):547-54.
Zinboonyahgoon N, Vlassakov K, Abrecht CR, Srinivasan S, Narang S. Brachial Plexus Block for Cancer-Related Pain: A Case Series. Pain Physician. 2015 Sep-Oct; 18(5):E917-24.
Smilowitz NR, Sampson BA, Abrecht CR, Siegfried JS, Hochman JS, Reynolds HR. Women have less severe and extensive coronary atherosclerosis in fatal cases of ischemic heart disease: an autopsy study. Am Heart J. 2011 Apr; 161(4):681-8.