Appendix 1. MEDLINE search strategy

1. cerebrovascular disorders/ or basal ganglia cerebrovascular disease/ or brain ischemia/ or exp brain infarction/ or hypoxia‐ischemia, brain/ or ischemic attack, transient/ or carotid artery diseases/ or carotid artery thrombosis/ or carotid artery, internal, dissection/ or carotid stenosis/ or exp carotid artery injuries/ or intracranial arterial diseases/ or cerebral arterial diseases/ or infarction, anterior cerebral artery/ or infarction, middle cerebral artery/ or infarction, posterior cerebral artery/ or exp "intracranial embolism and thrombosis"/ or exp stroke/ or vertebral artery dissection/
2. (isch?emi$ adj6 (stroke$ or apoplex$ or cerebral vasc$ or cerebrovasc$ or cva or attack$)).tw.
3. ((brain or cerebr$ or cerebell$ or vertebrobasil$ or hemispher$ or intracran$ or intracerebral or infratentorial or supratentorial or middle cerebr$ or mca$ or anterior circulation) adj5 (isch?emi$ or infarct$ or thrombo$ or emboli$)).tw.
4. (transient isch$ or TIA or TIAs).tw.
5. (carotid adj5 (stenosis or thrombo$ or disease$ or arter$ or atherosclero$ or atheroma$ or narrow$ or plaque$ or occlus$ or occlud$ or constrict$ or emboli* or block$)).tw.
6. 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5
7. carotid artery diseases/su or carotid artery thrombosis/su or carotid artery, internal, dissection/su or carotid stenosis/su or exp carotid artery injuries/su or exp Carotid Arteries/su
8. Endarterectomy, Carotid/
9. (carotid adj5 (endarterectomy or thromboendarterectomy or surgery or revasculari$ or eversion)).tw.
10. CEA.tw.
11. carotid artery diseases/ or carotid artery thrombosis/ or carotid artery, internal, dissection/ or carotid stenosis/ or exp carotid artery injuries/ or exp Carotid Arteries/
12. carotid.tw.
13. 11 or 12
14. Endarterectomy/ or Vascular Surgical Procedures/
15. 13 and 14
16. angioplasty/ or angioplasty, balloon/ or angioplasty, balloon, laser‐assisted/ or angioplasty, laser/
17. Stents/
18. (angioplasty or stent$ or endovascular).tw.
19. (balloon adj5 (dilat$ or catheter$)).tw.
20. ((endoluminal or transluminal) adj5 repair$).tw.
21. cerebral revascularization/
22. exp cerebral arteries/su
23. arterial occlusive diseases/su
24. exp cerebral arteries/
25. vascular surgical procedures/ or anastomosis, surgical/
26. 24 and 25
27. (extra?cranial adj5 intra?cranial).tw.
28. ((cerebral or brain or arterial or surgical or microsurgical) adj5 (anastomosis or revascular$ or bypass or graft)).tw.
29. (EC‐IC or ECIC or EC#IC or extra‐intracranial or STA‐MCA).tw.
30. 7 or 8 or 9 or 10 or 15 or 16 or 17 or 18 or 19 or 20 or 21 or 22 or 23 or 26 or 27 or 28 or 29
31. early medical intervention/ or time factors/ or emergencies/ or emergency medical services/ or emergency treatment/
32. ((urgent or emergenc$ or early or immediate$ or delay or delayed or defer or deferred or timing or time) adj5 (intervention or surg$ or treat$ or revasculari$ or angioplasty or stent$ or endarterectomy or CEA)).tw.
33. 31 or 32
34. 6 and 30 and 33
35. Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic/
36. random allocation/
37. Controlled Clinical Trials as Topic/
38. control groups/
39. clinical trials as topic/
40. Therapies, Investigational/
41. Research Design/
42. randomized controlled trial.pt.
43. controlled clinical trial.pt.
44. clinical trial.pt.
45. (random$ or RCT or RCTs).tw.
46. (controlled adj5 (trial$ or stud$)).tw.
47. (clinical$ adj5 trial$).tw.
48. ((control or treatment or experiment$ or intervention) adj5 (group$ or subject$ or patient$)).tw.
49. (surgical adj5 (group$ or subject$ or patient$)).tw.
50. (quasi‐random$ or quasi random$ or pseudo‐random$ or pseudo random$).tw.
51. ((control or experiment$ or conservative) adj5 (treatment or therapy or procedure or manage$)).tw.
52. trial.ti.
53. (assign$ or allocat$).tw.
54. controls.tw.
55. or/35‐54
56. 34 and 55
57. exp animals/ not humans.sh.
58. 56 not 57