| Methods |
Randomisation sequence: method not described. Concealment: method not described. Treatment completed as per protocol in all the patients. Follow‐up: 42 days. Number of patients lost at follow‐up not reported. Intention‐to‐treat analysis: not assessable. |
| Participants |
Country: Chile. Crrhotic patients with endoscopic proven bleeding from oesophageal varices. Exclusion criteria: age more than 80; portal hypertension from cause other than cirrhosis; EVS in the last 15 days; hepatocarcinoma; hepato‐renal syndrome or terminal liver failure; non active bleeding; variceal source of bleeding not confirmed on endoscopy. |
| Interventions |
EVS: intravariceal ethanolamine oleate, up to maximum 5 ml per session. Control: 5‐day continuous iv infusion of octreotide 50 µg/h after an initial iv bolus of 50 µg |
| Outcomes |
24‐hrs and 5‐day failure to control bleeding; 42‐day mortality. |
| Notes |
Remarkable difference in treatment groups size. Multicenter study with randomisation performed according to the local expertise with endoscopic therapy. Some patients received banding ligation: number not reported. This is a three arm randomised trial: EVS, EVS plus octreotide, octreotide alone. Only the two trial groups of interest (EVS vs octreotide) are considered for this review. |
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Adequate sequence generation? |
Unclear risk |
Unclear |
| Allocation concealment? |
Unclear risk |
Unclear |
