What does juxtacortical lesion mean?

[deborah0904]

I have a lesion in the high left parietal juxtacortical area.  Where in the brain is this?

[Quixotic1]

Wow, you slid off the first page in just 12 hours!  I'm so sorry, but the forum is a flyin' these days.

The parietal area is on the two sides of the brain, up higher.  

Juxtacortical is describing the area between the gray matter (the cortex), and the white matter."   All areas of the brain have a juxtacortical region.  Juxta" tells us that the lesion actually spans the junction between the two regions.  This is an important finding because very few other diseases cause lesions in that area.  When an MRI shows juxtacortical lesions in a patient with signs and symptoms suggestive of MS, the lesion is a strong bit of evidence pointing toward MS.

Mostly we hear that lesions are subcortical.  This means that they are just "below" the cortical/white matter border, but not overlying it.  Things like hypertension, age-related lesions, and migraines tend to occur also in the subcortical region.

When juxtacortical lesions are small, if the image is not good and clear, such as one down on a lower power machine, the radiologist may mischaracterize them and call them subcortical by mistake.  The radiologist has to look very carefully.

I hope this helps.

Quix

[deborah0904]

Thank you, so much for this excellent explanation.  Too bad the Neuro didn't explain it.  
you are awesome!!!  Thanks for taking the time to answer!
Deborah