WHAT ARE THE RISKS OR SIDE EFFECTS OF A LUMBAR PUNCTURE (SPINAL TAP or DRAWING CEREBROSPINAL FLUID)?
Some participants will be studied without lumbar punctures. Headache may occur in about 5% of people who undergo lumbar puncture. The following risks are rare (less than 1 %). They include infection, damage to nerves in the back and bleeding into the cerebral spinal fluid space. They are even less likely for people with Alzheimers disease.
