Dr. Wayne Francis Yakes, MD

I hade a horrible experience with this doctor. He paralyzed half my face and caused permanent nerve damage in my head and neck. I would never allow any person I know to receive care from him or his revolving care team.

I have vascular malformation. I seen Dr. Yakes, the year was 2020. He performed a procedure called ethanol embolization. I remember waking up in the hospital and Dr.Yakes asking me "Can you see?" I shook my head no. I will always remember his last words to me in the hospital, "I think I worked to fast on your eye."

He doesn’t know how to assess risk and isn’t the kind of person you want to trust with your life.

Dr. Yakes is very specialized in AVMs. Many doctors told us that the malformation will continue to grow and will never go away. Luckily we found Dr. Yakes who was always positive about it. He eliminated our daughter´s AVM in just two sessions. We are very thankful that he helped our daughter.

This $130,000 procedure did not work what so ever. Job loss - reduced benefits and they are requiring payment with no willingness to write this off or offer charity. What's more, AML Luekemia symtoms developed within 24 hours of second treatment last summer. Near death experience within one month, but LDS Medical Center saved her life through chemotherapy and stem cell transplants. After six months of constant care, she is stable and back home with her four children and husband trying to dig out of a mountain of bills including Dr Yakes's practice and Sweedish Medical in Denver.

Draw Yajes and Yee performed 21 interventional radiological procedures from 1999-2001 to treat my gigantic (the actual medical term) vascular malformation that was actively invading my lung and spine. Dr. Yakes is the international subject-matter expert in VMs and AVMs; his method has changed and saved many folks' lives, and the center is busy with patients from all over the globe. The level of care is superb. These lesions had been mis-diagnosed for years; surgical removal often compounds the problems, especially in the brain, face, and other difficult areas. His team works closely with your own doctors to effectuate a firm diagnosis. This increasingly-not rare problem requires real skill and specialized experience; Dr. Yakes developed the method himself decades ago and has successfully taught it to doctors all over the globe. So glad he's still helping folks!

Life saver!

Terrible expereince here. Scheduling and working with insurance SUCKS. I waited hours to be brought back for surgery (after not eatting for almost 24 hours) when I was told it would be an hour. The cost of this treatments was never discussed and received a bille over 1 year later that amounted to double what I was told when I was admitted. NOT ONCE, has anyone from this office checked on my recovery status nor did the Dr. remove the malformation that was said to be one of the smallest he's seen. EXTREME disappointment in my experience with the Swedish Medical Center & Dr. Yakes.

Dr Yakes' and his PA's warm, caring personalities make his practice the best around!

I regret my treatment with Dr. Yakes. I have an extensive vascular malformation in my leg and Dr. Yakes claimed he could cure it. Twelve trips to Denver and nineteen treatments later I am no better. During the course of my treatment, I suffered from 6 staph infections. Honestly, I think some are driven to see him out of an unrealistic hope of cure and have no idea of the personal, professional, and emotional costs of what can be minimally helpful treatment. I would advise parents and patients to treat conservatively.

Dr Yakes is excellent at what he does. He is a very caring person. I am always nervous before my son goes in for his procedure and he's had 18 and dr Yakes is so caring and compassionate he makes you feel as though your child really matters to him not just a number. I thank God we found dr Yakes and pray for him.

my daughter was born in 1995 with obvious markings on her right leg & what looked like a huge, deep blood blister on her right heel. Over the next 3 years or so we saw many specialists but were pretty much told it was birthmarks & nothing to worry about. We saw a story on a TV current affairs show of a girl with something similar. Long story short, an MRI was done & we at last had a diagnosis. A life threatening condition that at the time could not be treated in Australia. We were fortunate enough to receive government funding, as had the other family we'd seen on TV. In 2000 we did our first trip to Denver. We thank God that we met the wonderful Dr. Yakes & his amazing team. There were two treatments on this first trip. By the time we went home, my daughters heel was firm & flesh colored. It was amazing. We did 10 trips over 4 & a 1/4 years, my daughter had 39 treatmentsin this time. The condition is no longer life threatening. Dr.Yakes, his wife Nona & children Alexis & Eric even visited us in Australia one time which was really fantastic. A centre has now been set up in Melbourne, where we have been for check ups & after consultation with Dr. Yakes, my daughter has just had treatment 40 & 41 under Professor Ken Thomson. My daughter enjoys a great quality of life thanks to the faith and dedication of Dr. Wayne Yakes, who has dedicated his life to the service of improving the life of others. We will be forever grateful.

We traveled from NC to Colorado to receive treatments for our daughter SaVanna. At the time SaVanna was three and now she is 5 years old and is in Kindergarden. She had several treatments from Dr. Yakes for an AVM that is located on her lip. He did a wonderful job and now she just goes once a year to keep a check on things. We had been to other doctors before Dr. Yakes, but they had only made SaVanna's AVM much worst! Dr. Yakes knows what he is doing and helped SaVanna greatly.

I had an arterial venus malformation which enveloped my brachial plexus, twisted around my clavicle bone and shoulder joint, which caused pain, limited range of motion and minimized blood flow in my right arm, hand and fingers. Mayo clinic and I wrote letters asking if I would be a candidate for ethanol embollizations. Dr Yakes started treatment within the month, and eventually performed 4 procedures on me between 1999 and 2002, allowing time between for the "burns" to heal. He stated he needed to be agressive with the treatment to get ahead of it's growth. The recovery was rough after the first treatment, but the remaining malformation treatment was much simpler. He saved my life! Mayo Clinic feels no one else is qualified to perform these sessions. They recently wrote a letter stating such to my BCBS of Michigan insurer, when they refused to allow Dr Yakes to treat a new vascular malformation in my tongue. BCBS has been difficult to deal with even though I had BCBS of Florida for my previous embollizations. They still refuse to preapprove the procedure. Dr Yakes is knowledgeable, skillful, friendly, and saves the lives of individuals from around the world. He has the luxury of choosing patients that are most in need of his services, because he is so exemplary. When your life is in jeopardy, select only the best doctor, no matter how far you must travel. How can one put a price on life? Thank you Dr. Yakes!

Dr Yakes is amazing! Nearly 8 years ago I underwent testing on various areas in my body and after 4 different scans, an exploratory surgery and a cerebral angiogram I still didn't have a diagnosis. Then, after my daughter was born I ended up back in the hospital with severe pain and following an MRI had a new idea of what could be going on in my body. My doctors in Nashville helped me find Dr. Yakes and after sending all my scans I finally had a diagnosis AND a solution!!Each treatment has been wonderful and they have the scheduling down to a science. The staff in pre-op and post-op take their time explaining everything to you and will answer any questions you have. Dr. Yakes takes time before each procedure to talk with you about what he'll be doing that day and answer any additional questions you have. He makes it a point to ensure you feel comfortable and knowledgeable about what he will be doing. It is obvious he not only loves what he does, but he truly cares about each patient individually.With the frequency of procedures necessary to treat each person, and the demand for his services from people around the world, it can be hard to get the "perfect" date for a surgery to meet your schedule. That being said, we've still been able to get in at times convenient for us.Overall, this doctor is a blessing to those with vascular malformations. He is one in a million!!

I have been going to Dr. Yakes for 11 years. My mother is in the medical field and I am so lucky that she was able to find him so long ago. In that time I have gone from not being able to walk properly due to my malformation to having my malformation become something of a small nuisance. It still causes me pain from time to time, but nothing like I was experiencing before the treatments. I have had to go back over the years as I have had children and the hormones make the malformation grow again. Over the years, I have gotten to hear the stories of countless people with malformations and the treatment they received before coming to Dr. Yakes. Some of them are absolute horror stories that will forever scar those poor patients. A lot of doctors will try to "cut" the malformations out. Even the other doctors (in a few places around the country) who practice something close to what Dr. Yakes does are not doing the exact same thing. Dr. Yakes has been a pioneer in this field and anyone doing somthing similar to what he is doing is simply following in his footsteps. Personally, I don't mind the expense to get the best treatment available. Dr. Yakes is truly a godsend to his patients. As to the reviewer who gave him a less than positive review, I don't think she appreciates how great he is because she didn't have the horrible experience that many people have had with other doctors. All I can say is that Dr. Yakes is amazing. He is a pioneer and he knows what he is doing. The results are not perfect- and he never expects them to be. It is a medical condition and the treatment he does is the best out there.

Dr Yakes is an OUTSTANDING doctor. We were misdiagnosed by many doctors. We ended up at the Mayo Clinic and they were the ones that actually highly recommended Dr. Yakes in Denver. We have been seeing Dr. Yakes and it is amazing on what he is capable of treating. I dont know where we would be without his knowledge and abilities. To sum it up he is not God but he is as close as you will get in this field. As for traveling to Denver it is not that costly if you watch the airfare and rental car deals online.

I really felt as though the hype about this doctor is bigger than his actual ability. He and his staff not only told me that our doctors, who have treated my daughter for 8 years didn't know what they were talking about, but that he "cured" her condition... after which refusing to listen to my phone calls about not only my concerns when I told them that the tumor had regrown and asking for a consultation - blowing me off for almost 2 months until we were able to finally get a follow up appt. (which they wanted anyway in 4-6 months after the initial procedure was the only reason we were able to get in)In which they said when it was found that I was actually correct in saying that it had grown- not only to what it had been prior to the initial procedure but exceeded... "we expected that... she is a growing child". The nursing staff - his and the hospital- is ridiculously stuck on him- basically talking about him as if he is a god... honestly, the procedure was no more beneficial to her than it was when the same procedure was done here in our home town rather than spending ALOT of money to travel to Denver. (everyone in the hospital was actually shocked to find out it was done elsewhere... it is actually done multiple places in the country...) He is a pleasant enough man in person, but that doesn't make up for anything.