Niu 2008.

Methods	RCT
Participants	64 participants with acute ischaemic stroke Time of randomisation after stroke onset: between 6 hours and 7 days Treatment: 32 participants at randomisation (56% male, mean age 76 years) Control: 32 participants at randomisation (53% male, mean age 75 years)
Interventions	Treatment: buflomedil hydrochloride (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 Death by the end of treatment CSS Haemorheological indices (whole blood viscosity, plasma viscosity, red blood cell aggregation, red blood cell deformation)
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	Low risk	No missing outcome data
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Unclear risk	The protocol was not available. Insufficient information to permit judgement