Brichant 1995.

Methods	RCT Approved by the Ethics Committee and informed consent obtained from each patient
Participants	Orthopaedic hospital in Brussels, Belgium 106 patients with proximal femoral fracture Age: not stated Male: percentage not stated Number lost to follow‐up: not stated Operated between 10 and 72 hours after admission Length of follow‐up: 10 days
Interventions	Treatment group: Neuraxial block (spinal or epidural) anaesthesia with bupivacaine (n = 54 randomized; 46 analysed) Control group: General anaesthesia administered according to 'local practice' (n = 52 randomized; 42 analysed)
Outcomes	Deep vein thrombosis (venography) Pulmonary embolism (confirmed with angiography or lung ventilation/perfusion scan)
Notes	Conference abstract only All patients had subcutaneous nadroparin for DVT prophylaxis for 10 days and contralateral stocking
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	"randomly allocated", no details
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Not mentioned
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	High risk	Not mentioned
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Independent panel of experts unaware of the treatment allocation
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	High risk	> 20% excluded from analysis
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	No failed spinal mentioned
Other bias	Low risk	Groups said to be well balanced