| Study characteristics |
| Methods |
C: sealed envelopes (opaque and sequentially numbered)
Non‐blinded
Ex during trial: none
Losses to FU: none |
| Participants |
North America
45 participants
Age range: 42 to 83 years
58% male
100% CT before entry
Cardioembolic stroke
Less than 48 hours since stroke onset |
| Interventions |
Rx: heparin IV (continuous, APTT 1.5 to 2.5) ± coumadin
Control: no treatment
Duration: 10 days |
| Outcomes |
Death plus cause of death
ICH (systematic CT on Day 4 to 10)
Recurrent stroke
Major extracranial haemorrhage |
| Notes |
Ex: BP > 180/115, bleeding risk
FU: 14 days |
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Random sequence generation (selection bias) |
Unclear risk |
No description of the method used for random sequence generation |
| Allocation concealment (selection bias) |
Low risk |
Treatment randomised |
| Blinding (performance bias and detection bias)
All outcomes |
High risk |
Treatment randomised but patients/personnel not blinded |
| Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias)
All outcomes |
High risk |
Treatment randomised but patients/personnel not blinded |
| Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias)
All outcomes |
Low risk |
Outcome of review independently evaluated |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias)
All outcomes |
Unclear risk |
Reported that only 98% completed follow‐up for the initial week, but no report on the following 14 days |
| Selective reporting (reporting bias) |
Low risk |
All mentioned outcomes apparently reported in the study |
