Malenkovic 2003.

Methods	RCT Setting: Serbia Funding: unspecified
Participants	67 ASA 1 to 5 patients undergoing laparotomy for various surgeries
Interventions	Treatment group: combined spinal (4.5 mg of 0.25% bupivacaine plus 0.2 mg of morphine) lumbar (L1‐L2 or L2‐L3; catheter tested with 3 mL of 2% lidocaine) epidural analgesia loaded with 10 mL of 0.25% bupivacaine followed by 3 to 5 mL of 0.25% bupivacaine every hour during surgery and bupivacaine 0.125% to 0.25% 15 mL every 8 to 12 hours started on postoperative day 2 and kept for 2 or 3 days (n = 34) Control group: acetaminophen and butorphanol (n = 33) General anaesthesia for all participants
Outcomes	Intestinal motility: "faster for epidural group" Pain at rest and on movement Length of hospital stay
Notes	Pain scores, intestinal motility and length of hospital stay measured but results not provided; no corresponding address for postal mail and invalid email address given
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	"randomized", no details
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Not mentioned
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	Low risk	"double‐blind", no sham block
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Low risk	"double‐blind"
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	No loss to follow‐up
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Unclear risk	Results not provided
Other bias	High risk	Participants of the epidural group also had spinal anaesthesia with bupivacaine and morphine. This is different from the other studies