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However, this requires a spinal tap with a cannula -- an invasive procedure with rare complications.

Oliver and the other doctors are fallible, be it freezing up during a spinal tap or completely overstepping into their patients’ personal lives to facilitate a father-daughter reunion.

The patient may undergo a PET scan, an M.R.I. or a spinal tap — tests that detect the presence of two proteins in the brain, amyloid plaques and tau tangles, both associated with Alzheimer’s.

The blood tests are easier and less invasive than the PET scans and spinal taps that traditionally have been used to measure levels of Alzheimer’s-related proteins.

For months, doctors couldn’t figure out why, until a spinal tap revealed she had Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare autoimmune disorder that causes the body to attack its own nerves, leading to tingling, weakness and pain.