Winter 1986.

Methods	Multicentre, randomised trial.
Participants	100 people with ST. Not reported if participants were hospitalised or non‐hospitalised or if the diagnosis of ST was objectively confirmed by ultrasonography.
Interventions	Diclofenac emulgel. Heparin gel. Study treatment given 14 days.
Outcomes	Pain (spontaneous and after pressure), redness, palpable cord.
Notes	Study only reported as an abstract for a scientific meeting. No full paper available.
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Low risk	Randomisation list.
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Method of allocation concealment not reported.
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	No information on study medication or outcome assessment provided.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Authors did not report whether they performed an ITT analysis.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Unclear risk	Outcomes not specified, only a general outcome of "efficacy" reported.

bid: twice daily; COI: conflicts of interest; COX: cyclo‐oxygenase; CUS: compression ultrasound; DVT: deep vein thrombosis; ECB: elastic compression bandage; HIT: heparin‐induced thrombocytopenia; im: intramuscularly; ITT: intention to treat; IU: international units; LMWH: low molecular weight heparin; NSAID: non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drug; od: once daily; PE: pulmonary embolism; RCT: randomised controlled trial; sc: subcutaneously; SD: standard deviation; SF‐36: 36‐item Short Form; ST: superficial thrombophlebitis; tid: three times daily; UFH: unfractionated heparin; VAS: visual analogue scale;‐ VRAS: visual rating analogue scale; VRS: visual rating scale.