Abstract: Objective To investigate the effect of vitamin C solution (VCS) deiodination on comfort level and nursing satisfaction in the elderly patients receiving endoscopic esophageal Lugol's iodine staining. Methods From March to April 2019, 52 elderly patients (＞60 years old) with superficial esophageal mucosal lesions confirmed by gastroscopy in our center were selected and randomly assigned to VCS group and normal saline (NS) group according to the randomized allocation table. We formulated a Lugol's iodine staining-related comfort degree scale and simple nursing satisfaction scale according to the Bruggrmann comfort scale and previous studies.The patients' comfort degrees were recorded immediately after the examination and 30 minutes later, and the nursing satisfaction was surveyed at last. Results The acute symptoms after Lugol's iodine staining were mainly posterior sternal discomfort, and delayed reactions were mainly epigastric discomfort. The incidence rate of retrosternal discomfort after the examination in the VCS group was significantly lower than that in the NS group (P=0.02). After 30 minutes, throat discomfort in the VCS group was significantly alleviated than that in the NS group (P=0.02). The scores of total nursing satisfaction, communication and explanation and professional level in VCS group were significantly higher than those in NS group (all P<0.05). Conclusions VCS deiodination is superior to NS, which can significantly relieve the discomfort of the elderly patients after iodine staining and improve the nursing satisfaction.

Key words: esophageal cancer, Lugol's iodine staining, vitamin C solution, comfort degree, nursing satisfaction