Table 1. Search strategy used for MEDLINE database.
| Number | Search terms |
|---|---|
| #1. | Cerebrovascular disorders/ or brain ischemia/ or carotid artery diseases/ or carotid artery/ or intracranial arterial diseases/ or cerebral arterial diseases/ or infarction, middle cerebral artery/ or exp ‘intracranial embolism and thrombosis’/ or intracranial embolism/ or intracranial thrombosis/ or stroke/ or exp brain infarction/ |
| #2. | ((brain or cerebr$ or hemisph$ or intracranial or mca) adj5 (isch?emi$ or infarct$ or emboli$ or thrombo$ or occlus$ or hypoxi$ or apople$)).tw. |
| #3. | (isch?emi$ adj6 (stroke$ or apoplex$ or cerebral vasc$ or cerebrovasc$ or cva or attack$)).tw. |
| #4. | 1 or 2 or 3 |
| #5. | Decompression/ or decompression surgical/ or neurosurgical procedures/ or hemicraniectomy/or craniotomy/ or trephining/ |
| #6. | (Decompress$ or craniectom$ or craniotom$ or hemi?craniect$ or trepa$ or treph$).tw. |
| #7. | 5 or 6 |
| #8. | 4 and 7 |
| #9. | Limit 8 to human |
| #10. | Randomized controlled trial.pt |
| #11. | Controlled clinical trial.pt |
| #12. | Randomized controlled trials.sh. |
| #13. | Random allocation.sh. |
| #14. | Double blind method.sh. |
| #15. | Single blind method.sh. |
| #16. | 10 or 11 or 12 or 13 or 14 or 15 |
| #17. | Limit 16 to human |
| #18. | 9 and 17 |
This search strategy was modified as required for the other electronic databases.