Objective:To retrospectively analyze the demographics and the final outcome of patients after successful prolonged cardiopulmonary resuscitation(CPR).Methods:Totally 12 patients, who were admitted to our ICU for further treatment after successful CPR between January 1996 and December 2002, were enrolled into this study.They all had return of spontaneous circulation after prolonged(>30 min) CPR and remained hemodynamically stable for more than 6 h.There were 10 males and 2 females,with a mean age of (53.5±19.7) years.Results:The median duration of BLS/ACLS in the 12 patients was 45 min(range:31-120 min).Four died from circulatory failure and multiple organ failure,3 survived with Cerebral Performance Categories 3 or 4 and 5 with 2 or 1(normal or near normal).There were no significant relation between hospital outcome and age (Spearman's correlation test,P>0.05) and between hospital outcome and duration of CPR attempt (P>0.05).Consciousness within 48 h after return of spontaneous circulation(ROSC) was significantly related with good hospital outcome(Fisher's exact test,P<0.01).Conclusion:The prognosis for patients who achieved spontaneous circulation after prolonged CPR is not necessarily bleak.The advice to give up further resuscitation attempt from the family or related people should be carefully dealt with after ROSC.The prediction of the hospital outcome 48 h later after ROSC is much more accurate and the advice given to the family would be more valuable.