Fig. 1.

The study flow chart. ROSC, return of spontaneous circulation; ALS, advance life support; ICU, intensive care unit; CPR, cardiopulmonary resuscitation; PRS, postresuscitation shock. *, Pertains to any confirmed deviation from the ALS algorithms presented in references 25 and 26; two patients (control, n = 1) were excluded after randomization. †, Consent was refused within 48 hours of ROSC in all cases; four of these patients were initially randomized to the control group. ‡, Four patients were started on open label, stress-dose hydrocortisone within 24 hours post-ROSC; in 3 of these patients, the prescribed hydrocortisone dose differed from the dose specified by the study protocol; study treatment was withheld in another 3 patients within 24 hours post-ROSC; consequently, a total of 6 patients were not treated as randomized. §, Nine patients were started on open label stress-dose hydrocortisone within 24 hours post-ROSC; consequently, these patients were not treated as randomized.