Dr. Mark Joseph Cwikla, MD

Back in 2010, my mom had a brain tumor that was growing pretty rapidly. Dr Cwikla couldn’t tell what type of tumor it was until he preformed surgery but knew it needed to come out and had suspected it to be a pretty bad one. A few days later he performed surgery that lasted about 6-7 hours. He was able to remove 90% of the tumor and told us it was in fact Glioblastoma, a stage 4 cancer. He gave her a 12-18 month survival rate as long as she was going treatment. When he was discussing our diagnoses, you could tell he genuinely cared. My mom ended up passing away 3 weeks later from a seizure while in the hospital one morning, just one day after Dr. Cwikla told us that she seemed to be doing better and would start speech therapy. We were devastated. But Dr. Cwikla was so kind and sent us a HUGE flower arrangement for her funeral. He was nothing but kind to us and to her while she was in the hospital. He smiled and laughed often when talking with her and us. We just wish we could have had… her a little longer.

I went to see him many years ago. He was rude and did not listen to me.

Dr. Cwikla Operated on me almost 30 years ago for a ruptured disc in my neck. I had spent nearly 9 months going from doctor to doctor in searing agony. After the surgery the next morning the pain was gone and has never returned. I have referred multiple people to him and can only say this: if he says you need surgery don’t wait. All you were doing is prolonging the pain

Dr. Cwikla did an emergency repair of a ruptured disc. He ruptured the dura causing a leak and somehow also severed nerves causing a complete cauda equina. Woke up paralyzed from the waist down on my right side. Have been dealing with the repercussions for six years. Had to have a permanent colostomy because of nerve damage to my intestines. My bladder has been non functioning since the surgery so I have to self cath all day and suffer from chronic infections, painful bladder and urethra spasms, pain and pressure rectally so much that I can no longer sit in a chair. So next month I have to have my entire bladder removed and the rest of my lower intestine, a fake bladder made and another stoma (urostomy) on the other side of my stomach. It will take six months to heal and God only knows how many 100s of thousands. This will be my fifth major surgery because of this Dr. I don’t know why hospitals continue to let him practice. He’s rude and terribly dangerous as a surgeon. He… has caused the same injury to multiple people. He can’t be sued. He carries minimal insurance and everything he owns is other people’s names. I’m a young woman with multiple children and permanently disabled because of this man. Run.

Had 2 surgeries Lumbar and neck, both 100% success zero pain now going on 10 years and I do what ever I want.

I had Dr. Cwikla go in for a lamanectimie on my back at L3 L4 and ended up with a spinal leak and a horrible back. He put in some mesh with bone, then removed it the second surgery. 3rd surgery had a shunt put in all the while not fixing my spinal leak. 4th surgery not successful. I was laying in the hospital bed with my feet above my head to keep the spinal fluid from pouring out. I was told to drink red bull for headaches. 5th surgery no leak. Horrible Dr.!!! I am now disabled!!! 34 years old.

This guy is totally incompetent. I can't believe that he is still allowed to practice medicine in this country. He should retire before he paralyzes someone.

Dr cwika was able to care of issues that have I've been dealing with for over 5 yrs, great now & would highly recommend!

Dr. Cwikla performed my first Anterior Cervical Fusion at C6-C7 in 1992. Dr Cwikla is obviously an extremely intelligent man and while he may not have an extremely "friendly" nor "outgoing" personality - during the pre-op office visits and Dr Cwikla was very professional, direct, quietly compassionate and considerate and he took a great deal of time making sure I understood the severity of my condition and what needed to be done to correct it. Despite lacking a cheerful personality Dr Cwikla's patient interaction with me was very appropriate at all times both before and after my operation. But what REALLY mattered to me was his skill and brilliance in the operating room. 11 years later it became necessary to have another spinal fusion - Dr Cwikla was the first and ONLY neurosurgeon I considered to perform this delicate operation. I hope my degenerative disk disease causes me no further problems requiring additional surgeries. But if that were to be the case - I hope Dr. Cwikla is… still practicing neurosurgery since he is definitely the only one I would want performing surgeries anywhere near my brain or spinal cord. I would - and in fact have on several occasions - recommend the services of Dr Mark Cwikla to friends and family alike who needed an extremely skilled neurosurgeon.

This Dr. did a number on me. Sorry I didn't see these reviews prior to having my microdiskectomy done by him. Of course he threw in an unnecessary spinal fusion to get more money out of my Insurance Company and yes caused a rent in the dura (spinal leak) I blacked out every time I lifted my head off the pillow for 3 days after surgery. I'm now diagnosed with Cauda Equina Syndrome. Why is he still practicing medicine. All the things you read about him being rude and disrespectful to hospital staff is true. He was rude to my sister who was at the hospital with me the whole time (oh and by the way I was supposed to go home the same day but ended up being in hospital for a week!). Sister gave it right back to him and he backed down a bit, but never told me he caused spinal leak, never told me he did a spinal fusion and told me he had no idea why I can't feel the backs of my legs, butt and a number of other things! Stay as far away from him as possible!!