Biography

Yoshua Esquenazi, MD, is a neurosurgeon with fellowship training in epilepsy surgery and surgical neuro-oncology. He focuses his practice on brain and spine tumors. Dr. Esquenazi received his medical degree at the Universidad Anahuac in Mexico City, graduating as valedictorian. During his studies he participated in student exchange rotations at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, as well as the William J. Harrington Medical Training Programs for Latin America at the University of Miami School of Medicine. He completed a general surgery internship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, and his neurosurgery residency training at the McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, where he was neurosurgery chief resident and recipient of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society (Delta Chapter) Resident Award and the Standing Ovation Award from Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center. During residency he worked in the medical school’s Neuroimaging and Electrophysiology Lab and then went on to complete a fellowship in epilepsy surgery at the same institution under Nitin Tandon, M.D. He subsequently completed a neurosurgery oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

He is an author of numerous book chapters and articles, and he received many awards and recognitions during his academic training.

Dr. Esquenazi provides neurosurgery services in the Texas Medical Center, integrating techniques such as brain mapping for awake craniotomies, stereotactic laser ablation, intraventricular endoscopy, stereotactic navigation and fluorescent microscopy to enhance safety during surgery and maximize tumor removal. He is fluent in Spanish and specializes in the following conditions and treatments:

  • Brain metastases
  • CNS lymphoma
  • Endoscopic management of hydrocephalus and colloid cysts
  • Gamma Knife® radiosurgery
  • High-grade gliomas (glioblastoma)
  • Insular gliomas
  • Intraventricular tumors
  • Low-grade gliomas (astrocytomas, oligodendrogliomas)
  • Intradural spinal tumors
  • Malignant spinal column tumors (metastatic spine tumors)
  • Meningiomas
  • Pineal region and brainstem tumors
  • Pituitary and parasellar tumors
  • Primary brain tumors in speech, motor, visual and sensory areas
  • Primary spinal cord tumors
  • Spine stereotactic radiosurgery (SBRT)

For Patients

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Yoshua Esquenazi Levy, MD


Education

Graduate School
Universidad Anahuac, Mexico City
Research Fellowship
Centro Medico Nacional Siglo XXI, Mexico City (Experimental Endocrinology lab)
Internship
Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, Rochester, MN
Residency
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX
Research Fellowship
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX (Neuro-imaging and electrophysiology lab)
Fellowship
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX (Epilepsy Surgery)
Fellowship
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY (Surgical Neuro-Oncology)

Areas of Interest

Clinical Interests

Brain metastases
High grade gliomas (glioblastoma)
Insular gliomas
Intraventricular tumors
Low-grade gliomas (astrocytomas, oligodendrogliomas)
Intradural spinal tumors (meningiomas, schwannomas)
Metastatic spinal column tumors
Pineal and brainstem tumors
Pituitary and parasellar tumors
Primary brain tumors in speech, motor, visual and sensory areas
General Neurosurgery

Research Interests

Effects of chemotherapy and cranial irradiation on brain tissue

Publications

Peer-Reviewed Articles:

  1. Esquenazi Y, Friedman E, Zheyu L, Jay-Jiguang Z, Hsu S, Tandon N. The survival advantage of “supra-total” resection of glioblastoma using selective cortical mapping and the sub-pial technique. Neurosurgery 2016, accepted for publication
  2. Esquenazi Y, Kalamangalam G, Hope O, Krish S, Slater J, Tandon N. Surgical Resections for Post-traumatic Epilepsy Following Cerebral Gun-Shot Wounds, 2016, World Neurosurgery.
  3. Frank T, Esquenazi, Masayuki N, Wanger A, Portnoy B, Shepard S. Disseminated phaeohyphomycosis with brain abscess and biliary invasion due to Bipolaris spp. in an immunocompetent patient. Annals of Clinic Lab Science, In Press 2016.
  4. Morris SA, Esquenazi Y, Tandon N. Pyogenic Cerebral Abscesses Demonstrating Facilitated Diffusion. Clin Neurol Neurosurg. 2016 Mar 6;144:77-81
  5. Esquenazi Y, Hyung Park, Kline D, Kim D. Surgical Management and Outcomes of Iatrogenic Radial Nerve Injection Injuries. Clin Neurol Neurosurg. 2016 Jan 12; 142:98-103.
  6. Esquenazi Y, Lo V, Lee K. Critical care management of patients with cerebral edema in brain tumors. J Intensive Care Med. 2015 Dec 8. Epub ahead of print.
  7. Esquenazi Y, Day AL, Ashley WW. Intracranial hemorrhage secondary to iatrogenic anterior cerebral artery pseudoaneurysm rupture following ventriculostomy. American J Clin Neurol and Neurosurg. Vol.1, No 3, 2015, pp 133-136.
  8. Park SH, Esquenazi Y, Kline D, Kim D. Surgical outcomes of 156 spinal Accessory nerve injuries caused by lymph node biopsy. J Neurosurg Spine. 2015 Oct;23(4):518-25
  9. Esquenazi Y, Savitz SI, McIntosh MA, El Khoury R, Grotta JC, Tandon N. Hemicraniectomy with and without clot evacuation for spontaneous supratentorial intracerebral hemorrhage. Clin Neurol Neurosurg. 2015 Jan;128:117-22.
  10. Esquenazi Y, Shank C, Tandon N,  Bhattacharjee MB. Lipomatous Hemangiopericytoma of the Sellar Region: Case report and Review of the Literature. Annals of Clinical & Laboratory Science, vol. 44, no. 1, 2014.
  11. Ovadia D, Esquenazi Y, Bucay M, Bachier CR. Association between Takotsubo cardiomyopathy and Axitinib:  Case report and review of the literature. Journal of Clinical Oncology 2014.
  12. Esquenazi Y, Kalamangalam GP, Slater JD, Knowlton RC, Friedman E, Morris SA, et al. Stereotactic laser ablation of epileptogenic periventricular nodular heterotopia. Epilepsy Res. 2014 Jan 30.
  13. Tandon N, Esquenazi Y. A meta-analysis of complications of subdural electrode placement. Epilepsia. 2014 Jan;55(1):195.
  14. Tandon N, Esquenazi Y. Resection strategies in tumoral epilepsy: Is a lesionectomy enough? Epilepsia. 2013 Dec; 54 Suppl 9:72-8.
  15. Esquenazi Y, Kerr K, Bhattacharjee MB, Tandon N. Traumatic rupture of an intracranial dermoid cyst: Case report and literature review. Surg Neurol Int. 2013 Jun 12;4:80,7806.113357. Print 2013.
  16. Esquenazi Y, Sandberg DI, Rekate HL. Successful treatment of hyperphagia by resection of a hypothalamic hamartoma. J Neurosurg Pediatr. 2013 Apr 9.
  17. Lo V, Esquenazi Y, Han MK, Lee K. Critical care management of patients with acute spinal cord injury. J Neurosurg Sci. 2013 Dec;57(4):281-92.
  18. Link MJ, Driscoll CL, Esquenazi Y. Vagoglossopharyngeal-associated syncope due to a retained bullet in the jugular foramen. Skull Base. 2010 Mar;20(2):105-9.
  19. Esquenazi Y, Guinto G, Mercado M. Hypophyseal incidentalomas. Gac Med Mex. 2008 Jan-Feb;144(1):47-53.
  20. Mercado M, Gonzalez B, Sandoval C, Esquenazi Y, Mier F, Vargas G, et al. Clinical and biochemical impact of the d3 growth hormone receptor genotype in acromegaly. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2008 Sep;93(9):3411-5.
  21. Sandoval C, Gonzalez B, Cheng S, Esquenazi Y, Mercado M. Macroprolactinemia identification in patients with hyperprolactinemia. Ginecol Obst Mex. 2007 Aug;75(8):459-64.

Book Chapters:

  1. Yoshua Esquenazi, Nitin Tandon. Neurocritical Care Board Review: Questions and Answers, Editor: Asma Zakaria. Chapter 10. “Neuro-oncology”. demosMEDICAL, 2013
  2. Yoshua Esquenazi, Nitin Tandon. Neurocritical Care Board Review: Questions and Answers, Editor: Asma Zakaria. Chapter 13 “Perioperative neurosurgical care” demosMEDICAL, 2013.
  3. Arthur L Day, Yoshua Esquenazi, Bulent Yapicular. “Surgical Therapies for Carotid-Ophthalmic Aneurysms” “Neurovascular Surgery 2nd edition” Spetzler, Kalani and Nakaji. Thieme.  In Press
  4. Yoshua Esquenazi, David Sandberg. “Neurosurgical management of Loculated Hydrocephalus”. In Complications of CSF shunting. Di Rocco et al. Springer 2014.
  5. Yoshua Esquenazi, Thomas Frank, Arthur L Day. “Anatomy of the Basal Cisterns”. In Intraventricular Neuroendoscopy. Torrez-Corzo, Rangel-Castilla, Nakaji P. Thieme. 2015
  6. Yoshua Esquenazi, Daniel H Kim. Brachioplexus tumors extending into the Cervico-Thoracic spine. Chapter 112. Benzel’s Spine Surgery, 4th Edition..
  7. Yoshua Esquenazi, Daniel H Kim. Peripheral nerve examination. Handbook of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Intensive Care for Nurses & Advanced Practice Health Professionals, In press.
  8. Yoshua Esquenazi, Daniel H Kim. Iatrogenic Lumbar spine Infections. Handbook of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Intensive Care for Nurses & Advanced Practice Health Professionals, In press
  9. Kerr K, Katzen S, Dannenbaum M, Esquenazi Y. Intracranial vascular tumors. In Decision Making in Cerebrovascular Diseases, edited by Drs. Leonardo Rangel-Castilla, Peter Nakaji, Adnan H. Siddiqui, Robert F. Spetzler, and Elad I. Levy. In Press
  10. Esquenazi Y, Bilsky M, Patsalides A. Spinal vascular tumors. In Decision Making in Cerebrovascular Diseases, edited by Drs. Leonardo Rangel-Castilla, Peter Nakaji, Adnan H. Siddiqui, Robert F. Spetzler, and Elad I. Levy. In Press.
  11. Hovinga K, EsquenazI Y, Gutin P. Meningiomas. In Cases in Surgical Neuro-oncology, edited by Drs Lonser and Elder. In Press