The simultaneous activation of adrenergic and vasopressin receptors, in conjunction with a potential steroid-mediated enhancement of the vascular reactivity to epinephrine may have beneficial effects in patients with cardiac arrest. This hypothesis is supported by the single-center results of NCT 00411879. The investigators intend to either refute or provide definitive evidence supporting this hypothesis (and its generalizability) by conducting the present multicenter, randomized, controlled clinical trial of in hospital cardiac arrest.