Li 2008.

Methods	RCT
Participants	85 participants with ischaemic stroke (age and sex unknown, but were comparable between 2 groups) Time of randomisation after stroke onset: within 48 hours Treatment: 44 participants at randomisation and all completed the trial Control: 41 participants at randomisation and all completed the trial
Interventions	Treatment: buflomedil hydrocholoride (200 mg, ivgtt, daily, 14 days) + control intervention Control: danshen (20 ml, ivgtt, daily, 14 days) + usual medical care
Outcomes	Time of outcome assessment: by the end of 14‐day treatment European Stroke Scale Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) Barthel Index (dependence) Serum C‐reaction protein Hepatic and renal function tests Coagulation function Adverse events
Notes	Combination of buflomedil with danshen Funding: not reported
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	"Randomised" but did not report the methods of randomisation
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Insufficient information was reported to permit judgement
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	High risk	Interventions used in the 2 groups were visibly different
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	The trial did not address this outcome
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	High risk	Some safety measures, e.g. hepatic and renal functions, were listed in the Methods section but were not reported in the Results section
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Unclear risk	The protocol was not available. Insufficient information to permit judgement