Greisen 2012.

Methods	Parallel RCT Ethics committee: approved by the regional ethics committee and the Danish Medicines Agency Informed consents: written as well as oral information was obtained Site: Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, Aarhus University Hospital‐Skejby, Denmark Setting: university hospital Dates of data collection: from 1 March 2007 to 31 March 2009 Funding: departmental resources Registration: EudraCT 2005‐000617‐35
Participants	42 participants; mean age: 71.4 years; sex distribution: 17 females and 25 males Inclusion criteria Aged 65 to 80; scheduled for elective CABG, aortic valve replacement, or combined surgery Exclusion criteria Ejection fraction < 0.3 Myocardial infarction within last 4 weeks Diagnosed diabetes Severe pulmonary or arterial hypertension Contraindication for epidural catheter Ongoing antiplatelet therapy Without preoperative optimal echocardiographic imaging
Interventions	Intervention Epidural analgesia (N = 21) Comparator Systemic analgesia (N = 21) Premedication: benzodiazepine and paracetamol Maintenance: propofol or sevoflurane Surgery: CABG or valve replacement or both with CPB
Outcomes	Relevant to this review Risk of neurological complications Pain scores Others Blood glucose
Notes	Conflict of interest: none Correspondence: letter sent 16 March 2018; no reply DOI: 10.1111/j.1399‐6576.2012.02731.x
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Low risk	Randomized by standard envelope method
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Low risk	Randomized by standard envelope method
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Not reported
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Not reported
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	No participants had displaced catheters when they arrived for surgery All participants in both groups completed the study
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	All results were reported
Other bias	Low risk	All participants who intended to receive an epidural catheter had an epidural catheter successfully placed Groups well balanced