Kakkar 2014.

Methods	Randomised controlled study.
Participants	40 thalassaemia major participants Age: 5 ‐ 18 years Gender: not mentioned Setting: unclear Country: unclear Inclusion criteria: not mentioned Exclusion criteria: not mentioned Follow‐up: not mentioned
Interventions	Three groups: DFP (n = 10): 75 ‐ 100 mg/kg/day DFX (n = 10): 30 ‐ 40 mg/kg/day Both drugs administered sequentially every alternate week (n = 20)
Outcomes	Cardiac MRI T2* Liver MRI T2* Serum ferritin CBC Liver enzymes Renal function tests
Notes	The study was only reported in a conference abstract.
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	"[...] were randomised to three groups [...]" Not mentioned how random sequence generation was generated.
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	No details given with regard to concealment of allocation.
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes	High risk	No placebo treatment mentioned. High risk of bias in particular of performance bias and outcome assessment.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Not reported how many patients reached end of study.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	High risk	Regarding cardiac MRI T2*, only baseline data and P value for DFP vs DFP+DFX at the end of the study was reported. For liver MRI T2* it is unclear whether values given are baseline or end of study data. Missing data for serum ferritin. CBC, liver enzymes and renal function tests. Only untoward side‐effects reported and only for group receiving combination therapy.
Other bias	Unclear risk	No baseline data reported.