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. 2018 Feb 6;2018(2):CD011123. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD011123.pub2

Kokoschka 1978.

Study characteristics
Methods Phase II parallel‐group RCT.
Open label study.
Participants Untreated metastatic melanoma.
Randomised participants: 34.
Interventions Two‐arm trial:
  • Chemotherapy : Carmustine 200 mg/m² orally every 8 weeks (N = 19);

  • Immuno‐chemotherapy: C parvum 1 mg IV, on days 1 to 4 and carmustine 200 mg/m² orally on day 8, repeated every 7 weeks (N = 15).

Outcomes Overall survival.
Tumour response.
Toxicity.
Notes Cross‐over: not allowed.
Quality of life: not reported.
Participants with brain metastasis: excluded.
Median follow‐up: not reported.
Risk of bias
Bias Authors' judgement Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias) Unclear risk Quote: "Patients were randomised".
Comment: There was insufficient information about the sequence generation process to permit judgment.
Allocation concealment (selection bias) Unclear risk There was insufficient information to permit judgment.
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias)
All outcomes Low risk As an open label study, no blinding of participants or personnel was possible. However, we believe that in this setting (metastatic melanoma), with the treatments tested and outcomes assessed, the knowledge of which intervention was received or administered (rather than the intervention itself), could not affect the outcomes under investigation. Therefore, we judged the risk of performance bias as low.
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias)
All outcomes Unclear risk There was insufficient information to permit judgment.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias)
All outcomes Unclear risk There was insufficient information to permit judgment.
Selective reporting (reporting bias) Unclear risk Published reports included all expected outcomes. However, no protocol was available so it was unclear if all planned outcomes were reported.
Other bias Low risk The study appeared to be free of other sources of bias.